The Family That Fights Together
by em-iloveyou-d
Summary: She knows she's been waiting for this call ever since her parents told her about their jobs, but she feels like its still so unexpected and far too early. This is the story of the family that fights together to stay together. HillxCoulson
1. Picking Up Darcy 2012

Darcy Lewis is working hard trying not to smack Jane upside the head when her cellphone goes off. She half expects it to go off, SHIELD has been trying to keep her updated on the "Protect Jane Foster" mission, but the caller ID surprises her.

"Mom?"

"_Darcy...! Darcy, sweetie, your father has been severely injured..._"

Darcy feels tears well up in her eyes at this and covers her mouth. Jane looks over at her, concerned, but Darcy turns around quickly and heads outside to talk in private.

She knows she's been waiting for this call ever since her parents told her about their jobs, but she feels like its still so unexpected and far too early.

"Is Dad okay?"

She hears her mother sniffle on the other end, and Darcy starts crying herself.

"_...They won't let me see him yet. I don't know, honey_."

Darcy sits down against the lab wall and holds her breath. She barely sees her parents anymore, and now she might be losing one of them. She has a feeling this has something to do with Norse mythology, but she lets it go and just cries into the phone.

"_Your grandpa is coming to get you. I'll see you in a few hours_."

"Okay, Mom..."

"_Darcy... He's going to pull through. He promised to take you to Harry Potter World for your birthday next month, and you know he never breaks his promises._"

She can tell her mother is saying this more to herself then to her, but Darcy whispers okay, and tries to sound hopeful when her mother tells her she loves her and says goodbye. Darcy hangs up her phone and cries a little more until Jane finds her and comforts her.

Ten minutes later, a black car pulls up, and two men in suits get out. Jane is immediately defensive, still upset over the last time SHIELD raided her lab, but Darcy springs up and runs over to the older man and flings herself on him. He catches her and hugs her to him and strokes her hair.

"Grandpa! I haven't see you since Christmas!"

"I missed you too, princess!"

They pull apart, and Darcy turns to the other man and punches him playfully on the arm. "Jay! You came too?"

Said man smiles and takes off his sunglasses. "Of course. Stopped off at the gas station and pick you up some snacks for the trip."

For a few minutes, Darcy's mind isn't on the worst possible scenario. She introduces Kay and Jay to Jane as her grandpa, a senior FBI agent, and his partner Jay. They chat a bit, but then Kay monitions to the car.

"Time to head out, kiddo. Someone's waiting to see you."

Jane hugs her goodbye, and the two agents and Darcy get in the car and drive off. Once a good distance away, her grandfather flips the top off the gearshift to reveal the red button and leans back to Darcy in the backseat.

"Would you like to do the honors, princess?"

Darcy slams the red button hard, and the car shoots off. It's almost like a roller coaster, and Darcy enjoys it guiltily. After an hour, they approach the helicarrier and Jay picks up the car's radio.

"This is Agent Jay and Kay, requesting landing."

Nick Fury just walks out of the council room when an agent calls him over radio with an unidentified aircraft requesting landing. He heads to the control room and is informed it's a flying car. He sighs, rolls his eye, and has the car's radio patched through.

"Kay, what do I owe the pleasure of you landing a car on my helicarrier?"

"_Fury! Good to hear you. Just a little family reunion. Someone needs to see her father, and I need to speak with someone about increased security._"

Fury cuts the call and gives them clearance to land.

They park and head to the medbay, where Maria Hill is outside pacing. Darcy catches sight of her first and runs to her. "MOM!"

Maria spins around, and everyone can see her red eyes and tear tracks. She looks so relieved once she catches sight of Darcy and meets her halfway. She pulls the girl in close and holds her tight. "I see your grandfather got you here safely."

"We took the car this time. I wore my seatbelt, don't worry."

Agent Kay and Jay finally catch up, and Maria looks over Darcy's head with sad eyes. Kay puts a hand on her shoulder and Jay looks down at they ground, and everyone is silent for a moment. Then Kay pulls away and steps back.

"Jay and I are going to have a talk with Fury, and then we'll be back. Keep us posted if anything changes."

Maria nods and watches the MIB agents turn a corner before she goes back to holding Darcy and asking her about Jane Foster and their research.

Finally, the doctors leave Phil's room after two hours of mother and daughter nervously waiting. They inform the family of Phil's condition, that he has a lot of healing to do before he can be up to his game, and how it will be a while untill he wakes up.

They let Darcy in to see him while Maria calls her father-in-law with the new information. Once she hangs up, she grabs a seat right next to Darcy and watches her resting husband. He's got IVs and heart monitors all over him, but he's breathing on his own, and Maria and Darcy are so relieved and happy that the main man in their lives is going to pull through.

Darcy begins to slump in her seat, and Maria pulls Darcy against her shoulder and strokes her hair until her daughter is drowsy. "Have I ever told you the story of how your father and I met?"

"Once, a while ago," Darcy yawns. "I don't remember most of it."

"Well..."


	2. The Assistant 1990

She's a young girl they first meet. Hair bleached blonde and waved, big blue eyes, and far too much lip gloss. She's a model and singer, shooting her second music video on the beach. He's the director's assistant. Whenever her and the director are talking, he's there, off to the left with those bright eyes. She has force herself not to turn and stare at him, and just listen to the director during meetings and blocking. She knows the director well, he did her first video, but his assistant is new. She has no idea what his name is.

On the first day of shooting, she trips over a piece of driftwood and face plants into the sand. She swears she's down there forever, until she feels someone pick her up under her armpits and haul her up. "Are you okay?" It's the assistant. She babbles about shoes for a few minutes before she gets her footing and scampers off to her trailer and hides behind her couch.

The second day goes better. They film the cameos while she waits in her chair on standby. She's so busy reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes, she doesn't even notice someone is standing beside her until they clear their throat. "That's a pretty cool book you've got there. I honestly read it in one sitting." Maria's eyes are wide, and she's frozen in place. It's him again. "But he got a few things wrong in it. I wish I could write him with a few corrections." All she can do is squeak and nod in response. He's about to open his mouth and say something else, but the director calls him over, and she stares as he walks away, waving and smiling.

Her third day, she spends half the morning working up the courage to say something, anything to him. He probably thinks she's some dumb model turned signer, with a brain full of cheesy hooks and imagined fame. She bets he's some kind of up and coming, only interested in girls who have PHDs and have traveled the world. She's only been to Canada and The United States. She's probably invisible to him. She still doesn't know his name.

When she gets to the set, they go over choreography one more time, and begin shooting. She's rolling in the sand when a gunshot goes off. Everyone looks around in a panic, but they can't find anything wrong until someone runs onto set, followed by the director's assistant. Both of them are holding guns.

The man the assistant is chasing grabs her off the ground and holds his gun to her head. Maria goes limp in terror, and the man has to struggle to keep her upright. Seeing how she's distracting him, she pretends to faint and let's her body relax as much as possible. The man finally gives up on holding her hostage and runs off. She sits up as soon as he's gone and watches as the assistant chases after him. She's so confused, but the director doesn't give her the time to think and goes right back to shooting.

Two hours later, the set is swarmed by black SUVs filled with men in black suits. The assistant comes back to set, dragging the man he was chasing by his handcuffs. Maria is wrapped up in a shock blanket, sitting on the back of a truck when he passes by her, and she finally finds her nerve. "You're in the FBI?"

He stops and turns to her, face completely void of anything. This isn't the assistant anymore. She looks at his eyes, and can't find the smile or charming glint he used to have. It hurts her. The man she's been gushing over for the past few weeks is a lie.

"Miss Hill," he greets, "I see you're okay. My name is Agent Coulson, I'm a part of SHIELD. I have to inform you that we'll be holding you and the crew here until tomorrow morning for debriefing."

She nods, and does the best she can to copy his impassive face, but she just feels something inside her start to boil. She was so stupid, getting a crush on a cover identity. She just wants to take off her shoes and beat this agent with them. When he walks away from her, she takes one glittery heel off and chucks it right at the back of his head. It hits him hard, and she swears she sees a cut forming before she tosses the other one at his back and stalks off to talk to the director and then lock herself in her trailer. Coulson is a stupid last name.

The agents set up a camp for everyone on the beach, but Maria stays in her trailer and refuses to come out for dinner. Every time someone knocks on her door, she does her best diva voice and demands to be left alone. She buries herself under some blankets, reads her book, and tries her best not to cry all over it.

Another knock sounds at her door, and she clears her throat and yells for them to leave her alone.

"Miss Hill. It's Agent Coulson. I need a witness statement from you."

Maria growls, grabs the fruit basket on her coffee table and hurls it at the trailer door. "I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE."

There's some clicking, and then her trailer door swings open and Agent Coulson steps in, face as blank as ever. "Miss Hill, I understand fame can be very stressful and being held hostage can only make it worse, but could you please stop throwing projectiles at me for five minutes and give me a witness statement? You're the last one we need."

She wipes at her eyes and fixes her ponytail and sits up on the couch, frowning, but motions for him to sit in the chair across from her.

"Witness statement," she hisses. "A men held a gun to my head, I pretend to faint, he dropped me and ran off. The end." She crosses her arms over her chest and glares. "Now please get out of my trailer."

Agent Coulson scribbles down what she says and then looks up at her. "Why are you so angry? Was the suspect in relations with you?"

Maria sputters at this and her face turns bright red. Her voice goes high pitched and she wants to throw something and hide. "I'm not seeing anyone, thank you very much!"

"Oh. Good."

She almost misses his eyes going wide, but she definitely catches his cheeks getting pink. She jumps up front he couch and stalks over to him, staring him down, but he quickly gets distant again and stare back at her emptily.

"...You like me, don't you?" she questions. He doesn't answer and she leans in closer to him. "You like me. Don't hide it. You. Like. Me." He still doesn't move, doesn't even blink, and she gets so close to him their noses are almost touching. "Why won't you react?" she whispers

"I can't really see anyone right now. My job does't allow me enough time," he whispers back.

Maria reels back, eyes wide, and sits on the coffee table in front of him looking at the ceiling. "You know about me liking you, and you like me, but your job is in the way? First it was the emotionally unavailable surfer who lived with his parents and now this?"

He laughs at this, and she watches as he slowly melts from the cold agent into the friendly assistant she's been crushing on. She grins and laughs along, and they spend a few hours talking about Stephen King novels and their jobs until the sun peaks up over the shoreline.

He goes to leave and stops on the steps out her trailer door and looks back to see her right behind him, smilingly sadly.

"I had a great time talking to you tonight.." he starts, but Maria, moving a foot above him, goes in for the kill and kisses him hard on the lips. She feels him stumble back a little, and she almost pulls away herself, but he leans in closer and grabs hold of her hips. It feel so soft and romantic and perfectly tragic when they pull away fro each other. They smile, and Phil hands her a scrap of paper with a number on it.

"If you ever need me, try this number."

"Do you want my number?"

"I already have it," he replies with a smirk. Maria rolls her eyes and pushes his shoulder, and he stumbles into the door. "I also took a look at your schedule and saw you'll be in New York next month, try to keep that friday clear." With that, he's out the door, and she watches as he heads into an SUV, and the whole fleet just rides off into the distance.

They finish the music video the next day, and a month later, she's in New York, Friday, walking through the zoo waiting for her date when someone tries to mug her. She punches the mugger out with a mean right hook and uses her scarf to tie his wrists behind his back. Phil finds her standing onto of the man's unconscious body, fixing her makeup, and makes a note to ask her abutting leaving behind the popstar life to join SHIELD.


	3. Lunchtime 1991

On a peaceful afternoon in New York City, Phil Coulson rounds a corner of cubicles and spots Maria Hill typing up a report with vigor. He hangs outside her cubicle and watches her finish it up, then swivel in her chair to play with the Captain America bobble head he bought her for their third month anniversary when he had to go on a mission. Finally, he clears his throat to get her attention, and she spins around, huge smile on her face.

"Ready for lunch?"

She nods and grabs her purse, and the two of them head out of SHIELD's office building and down the streets of New York. They spot at a pizza parlor and watch a hockey game replay on TV while Maria tells him all about her new promotion, and how one day she's going to be at the top. Phil laughs, because he hopes she only wants to get ahead in her career so she can be on the same rank as him and they can be partners, and not because she wants to be his boss.

He brings up their upcoming one-year anniversary, and Maria blushes and looks down at the table and fidgets. He takes this as a good sign, and asks her what she wants to do. She only mumbles in response, before turning the question on him, and then stuffing a slice of pizza in her mouth.

By the end of lunch, they make plans to spend a weekend in a Bed and Breakfast and just lounge around. No cellphones, no guns, no reports. Just what they want.

They hold hands as they walk back to SHIELD offices, but Phil pulls her towards the park at the last minute. They grab a bench, and Phil tries not to show how nervous he is. He doesn't even notice how fidgety Maria is getting and how she's looking anywhere but him.

"Maria... I know we haven't been together very long," he starts, staring up at the sky and missing the panic on Maria's face, "but I think it's time to be honest with one another." he stands up from the bench and moves to in front of Maria's knees, and then goes down on one knee. "I need to tell you how I really, truly, feel about you. And I hope-"

"I'm pregnant!" Maria wails.

Phil stumbles at this, drops the ring he was trying to get out of his pocket and stares slack jawed at Maria. Maria doesn't look back at him, too busy burying her face in her hands and crying.

Phil clears his throat and reaches for Maria's hands and pulls them from her face to hold them in her lap. They stare at each other for a few minutes, both trying to think of something to say.

"How far along are you?" Phil finally whispers.

Maria sniffles and looks down at her hands. "A month or two, maybe? I took a test last night... I was planning on going to the doctor after work today."

Phil sighs and rubs a hand through his hair, and then smiles up at Maria. "You know I was honestly trying to propose to you just now."

Maria smiles down at him, tears still flowing. "I thought you were going to break up with me. I panicked."

They both laugh, and then Phil goes back to one knee, picking the ring box off the ground and handing it to her. "So, Maria Hill, mother of my child, will you marry me?"

She grins, and holds out her hand, and Phil slips the ring on her finger. She takes a few seconds to look at it before looking back down at him. She grabs him by the collar and pulls him up for a kiss, which lasts a little longer than proper in public, before pulling away and whispering, "Yes."

That evening, they go to the doctor, and it's confirmed. They spend the whole night planning and laughing.


	4. Moving In 1991

Engaged five weeks and ten weeks pregnant, the two agents sit in their new shared apartment in New York, eating Chinese takeout after finally finishing setting up their bed.

They're not really sure what to do about a wedding. Maria will start showing, so they're leaning towards the sooner the better. Neither of them exactly have friends to invite. Maria has a few old model pals she never talks to still in her address book, and they both have a few office friends, and there are their bosses, but not much else.

Until they get to the subject of family. Maria immediately tells Phil both her parents are dead. The way she says it, so strongly, make him want to drop the subject, but he sighs, and tells her about his family.

"My father is an agent, very high up. I don't see him very often, holidays and birthdays, but I'm sure he'd come," he says while tearing at a paper napkin.

Maria smiles and puts her hand onto of his fidgeting ones. "And your mother?"

"They're.. uh.. Well, there's no way my mother could make it. I have no idea where she is."

Maria nods, and like he did, she lets the subject drop.

"So that brings the guest list up to a whooping one person," Maria jokes.

"Technically two people," Phil replies, patting Maria's still nonexistent baby bump. The two of them grin at this.

"So, you, me, your father, and our unborn child. Sounds like a real party... Maybe we should skip the intimate church wedding and go to the justice of the peace?"

Phil looks at her seriously for a moment, and Maria almost loses her nerve. "Is that what you really want?" he asks. She knows he dreams of white picket fences and Fourth of July barbecues, it's something neither of them had growing up, and they want to be traditional so badly. But it's hard to a traditional America family when she's technically Canadian, they're both agents for the world's largest top-secret security agency, and there's already a baby on the way.

"I just think that... It would be easier for us. Just a simple ceremony and some papers to sign. And then we can go out for dinner. No fuss," she replies in-between mouthfuls of lo-mien.

He's silent for a moment, and Maria fears he's going to completely disagree, and they're going to fight on they first night in their new two bedroom apartment, box full of crib parts waiting in their guest room, but he smiles and kisses her on the cheek swiftly.

"Anything you want, as long as we get married."

The next day, they set up an appointment at the courthouse in five weeks time, and make a reservation for three at a classy restaurant. Phil goes about contacting his father while Maria schedules her doctor's appointments for the next three months.


	5. Plans 1991

She's a Canadian popstar turned secret agent, fifteen weeks pregnant, living in New York City with her fiancée, walking up the steps of the courthouse to get married when she sees two older gentlemen in black suits and sunglasses, staring down at her.

She can't help but feel her plans for a simple wedding slip right out of her fingertips and crash onto the floor.

Phil freezes beside her when he catches sight of the two men. Maria hangs her head down tries to think of an explanation. Agents in SHIELD get married all the time, she's not pregnant, she's fat, this dress is eggshell not white, and they were going to file the paperwork tomorrow, honestly.

But then Phil nudges her, and she looks back up to see the younger of the two gentlemen smiling and approaching them. So maybe they're not getting caught after all.

"Maria, this is my dad, Kay, and that's his partner Dee."

Kay smiles and holds out a hand to Maria. She smiles nervously and gives him her hand, which her softly holds and then kisses.

"It's a pleasure to meet the woman my son won't stop talking about," Kay greets. "And mother of my first grandchild," he adds with a wink. "How much longer until I get to hold my grand-baby?"

Maria smiles at the affection. It's clear where Phil got his soft side. "A few more months, I'm afraid. We're going to find out the gender in a few weeks."

"Well, while we wait for the newest arrival, I think it's time for my daughter-in-law to join the family." Kay grins and holds out his arm, which Maria takes, but not before linking hands with Phil, and the three climb the steps to meet Dee, and then into the courthouse.

The ceremony is simple, and they are glad Kay brought along Dee as a witness. They exchange vows, and Dee snaps pictures like crazy of them as he wails about how beautiful weddings are.

After the ceremony, they make way to the fancy restaurant, where they reservation has been mysteriously changed from three to four, and the new husband and wife tell Kay all about their plans, how Maria is going to take maternity leave, and he's going to go on a desk job while the baby grows, and how they're already setting up the nursery.

Maria doesn't catch the doubtful look in Kay's eyes as she explains her plan, but Phil does, and it worries him.


	6. Opportunities 1991

Today is the day. Today, Maria is submitting the paperwork to announce her pregnancy and file for maternity leave. Phil has a mission in Toronto, so Maria has to handle it all by herself. But she's confident. She's been wearing blazers and comfortable flats, hiding behind counters and half walls, holding files and large objects in front of her for weeks.

She's got the paper work in her hands, just about to put it in the slot when someone calls her name.

"Hill! In my office, now!"

It's her superior. Perfect.

Clutching to her paperwork, Maria walks into the office and sits down, back straight, legs crossed at the ankles, and face void of any emotion.

"Sir."

"Hill... Your performance recently has been... in the spotlight. You're being noticed. The higher ups want to put you in the field as soon as possible. Training starts next week in Texas."

Maria is thrown for a loop at this. Her dream is coming true, but so is her other one, and she knows if she turns this down, she'll never leave her desk. She blinks, the nods.

"Thank you, sir."

"Briefing reports are being sent to your residence tonight, and you'll have until Friday to pack your things."

Maria gets up silently and leaves. She goes to her desk and works hard, never stopping for a single moment, until it's time to go home. She walks to her apartment, eyes forward. She eats a meager dinner of left over spaghetti while reading her training briefings, and then lays down in bed and stares at the ceiling.

The phone has been ringing ever since she walked in the door, but she's ignoring it. He probably knows by now, and she doesn't want to hear what he has to say right now. She knows that he won't get home until Saturday.

She knows this isn't solely her decision to make. It's Phil's daughter just as much as it's her's, but this is her career. She's been ready for the field since day one. Can she really live with endangering their child so she can reach for the stars?

When he opens the door, he knows this is what he would see. He had hoped and prayed he wouldn't see it, but he knew it would happen. There's a note on the kitchen counter that reads " Phil" in her handwriting, and the apartment just feels so empty. He drops his things by the door, passes by her note, and goes straight to their bedroom. He just wants to go to sleep and wake up and see everything the way it's supposed to be.

He passes by the nursery on the way to the bedroom and sees a fully constructed crib with a mobile, a new armchair, and a new large box filled with parts for a changing table.

"Please, let them be safe. Please keep them safe. Please bring them back," he whispers against the doorframe. He gives the room one last look before closing the door and walking towards the bedroom.


	7. Time Passes 1992

Her training goes smoothly. The uniform she wears during it is baggy enough that no one can tell what's going on with her. Every spar she enters, every training sequence, she pushes herself so hard. She shows so much promise to her superiors for it, but honestly, she's just trying to keep her daughter safe.

She apses with flying colors, and she gets put in surveillance first. She gets to dress as a civilian and tail people watch their interests and keep them safe and in watch. She pretends to wear a baby bump and pose and a glowing pregnant woman on these missions, and her partner often tries to plays father to be, though Maria always introduces him as her brother-in-law, not her husband, because this man didn't put those rings on her finger, even if the one who did probably never wants to see her again.

All her missions are successes, because Maria is well aware of what will happen if she fails. People will start questioning her and her methods, they'll pull her out of SHIELD so fast she goes into pre-term labor, or worse, she'll lose her daughter and never forgive herself.

Her and her partner get a new mission, their biggest one yet, handed to them in a hotel lobby. They sit in her room and read over the briefs, discuss plans and prepare themselves. There's a weapons cache being smuggled on a cruise ship, but SHIELD doesn't want the weapons or the smugglers, they want the guy in charge of all of this. Her partner supposes because the man presents a threat to world safety, but Maria has a feeling this is more about what power this man holds, and how SHIELD can use it, though she doesn't say anything at all.

It gets late, and Maria wishes her partner a goodnight and opens the door for him, but he doesn't leave and sits on her bed. She stares at him blankly, refusing to believe he's really trying to pull this, but as soon as he opens his mouth, she glares.

"Maria, take the pregnancy belly off, and let's have some fun," he puts, unbuttoning his shirt. "Get the adrenaline rushing before the mission." His shirt falls onto the bed behind him, and he does his best to make removing his belt look attractive. "These past few months, don't tell me you haven't.. felt the tension." His pants are around his knees, he's grinning at her, trying to catch her.

But Maria pulls out the gun in her thigh holster and aims it right at his groin. "If you want to keep those, I suggest you leave now. I will shoot you and blow our cover."

He doesn't move until she clicks off the safety, and then he scrambles to put his pants back on. He doesn't bother with the shirt, and Maria keeps the gun on him until he's out the door and she can lock the door behind him.

Once she hears his footsteps soften down the hall, she slips her gun back into her holster and rubs a hand against her belly. "Princess, I am so sorry you had to hear that." Maria is hopeful her daughter will never subconsciously remember this, but hope has a way of throwing up all over her shoes.


	8. Grilling 1992

It's summer. The night before Fourth of July to be exact.

They've moved out from the city to a nice little three-bedroom home in the suburbs. It's perfect. They even added in a white picket fence for the fun of it.

They're new to the neighborhood, but their neighbors welcome them in with big smiles and open arms. There's a block party tomorrow, and they've asked him and Maria to be in charge of the second round of hotdogs. It's no problem on their part. He's been itching to grill something in the backyard with his new red, white and blue apron, Maria stopped by the grocery store on the way home from the doctor's loaded up with dogs and buns.

He looks up from the grill, trying to get it ready for tomorrow, and sees her sitting on their newly installed porch swing, rocking back and worth with a soft smile on her face. He wipes his hands on a nearby towel and joins her.

As soon as he sits down, she leans against him and nudges him until she's comfortable. He pulls her in close, and she tucks her head under his chin and sighs. "It's warm tonight," he murmurs. She nods against him, and somehow he just knows she grinning. Their hands meet atop her large pregnant belly, fingers curling into each other, his thumb rubbing across her knuckles.

They're about to drift off from the serenity when they feel a small kick. He laughs at the feeling and rubs the area as Maria rolls her eyes at her already hyper baby. "Any day now," Maria comments. "I'm ready for her to get out."

He laughs and kisses her temple, and she makes another remark he doesn't quite catch, and then the noise just starts getting louder and louder until it becomes this buzz, and then it just all goes to black and...

Phil wakes up in cold sweat and hits the snooze on his alarm. He's had this dream every night for the past month. His daughter is due any day now, he's sure of it. And of course, he has absolutely no idea where she or her mother is.

He's been doing his best at work to keep his mind off it, taking on anything he can just so he doesn't have any down time to think about whom out this wedding ring on his hand or whether his only child has been born yet. It's too difficult. The door to the nursery hasn't been opened for months.

His father calls him every few weeks, offering updates on Maria, but Phil turns it down. He doesn't want to know, partly because he wants to believe this is a dream, and he'll wake up, turn over and see here there snuggled under the blankets with a huge smile, but also because he's terrified to hear if anything's happened. He know what field training is like, he's done it himself and even run it a few times, and field work... He doesn't know how Maria could do it while carrying a child, and he's scared to find out that she didn't.

He pulls himself out of bed, showers, shaves, and heads to the control room. Today, he'll be playing command center while two agents bring an arms dealer into custody.

When he sits down and puts on his headset and calls the two agents, he nearly chokes up when they answer back. "Uncle Fester and Mother Hen checking in, we're approaching the rendezvous point in two hours. Uncle Fester is taking the south side, while I check the North. Will update if any new information arises."

He clears his throat and answers, "Check in confirmed. Over and out."


	9. Hostage 1992

She watches him out slink out of the room in her peripheral vision, while still chatting with an older woman in the buffet line. The little woman wouldn't stop questioning Maria. She had already gone through the whole story about how her med school resident husband couldn't make it on their vacation, so she was going with her gay brother-in-law instead. About how the doctor cleared her for the voyage and she wasn't due for another month. About how she made sure to call her husband everyday. About how she knew exactly where he was. About how happy they were.

All of it a cover story.

Finally, the little old woman fills her plate and wanders off to her table after wishing Maria goodbye. Maria smiles and waves back, and turns back to the table to finish loading up her plate. She carries it to the table her partner is sitting at and plops it right in front of him.

"I'm not feeling so well. I'll be back in a few," she mumbles to him and waddles off to the nearest washroom.

She passes by the door, and rounds a corner and there he is, the arms dealer, talking on a satellite phone. She watches him closely, tries her hardest to listen in on what he's saying, but can't really catch anything other than the word "hostage". Her nostrils flare at the word, and suddenly Maria knows just how to she's going to be turning this man over to SHIELD.

She walks out of her corner, looking around the ship and biting her lip. She turns in circles a few minutes before spotting the man and looking relieved.

"Excuse me? Do you know where the closest restroom is? One of the waiters told me it was over here, but I haven't seen it yet, and I'm getting so confused, and I don't even know which was the dining hall is now..."

The man smiles at her and offers his arm. "I know exactly where it is. allow me to take you there, and then back to the dining hall?"

Maria giggles and nods and takes his arm, and walks with him with all the grace a pregnant woman can muster. He leads her right to the washroom she passed, and she spends about five minutes in there, checking her weapons, stretching her calves and cracking her knuckles. She does her best to ignore her back pain, it's just been getting worse ever since she walked on this boat. She radios her partner and home base, and focuses on what comes next. If she were a religious woman, she would pray for safety. She is hopeful someone is watching over her. She has no idea how right she is.

She exits the washroom and takes the man's arm once again. "I'm surprised your husband didn't come with you, especially in your condition," he comments, while clearly walking past the dining hall doors.

"My husband isn't here with me. He got called in for an emergency last minute. Doctors!" she huffs and then laughs. He grins beside her and turns them down a hallway, which Maria is very aware leads to the side of the ship.

"That's such a shame. But a doctor! He'll be able to keep you comfortable and happy at least," he replies. Maria wants to roll her eyes at the subtext. It's so easy to get kidnapped these days. But she keeps smiling and laughing and acting completely oblivious.

They exit the inside of the ship, and she looks around the deck in confusion. "Oh my! Seems I'm more lost than you. Wait here while I go look for a map?" He's off like a light, and Maria braces herself.

The two big arms that grab her and haul her up off her feet are no surprise, though she assumed the mercenaries would be taller. She puts up the necessary struggle until they finally hold a gun to her head and she lets them take her off the side of the ship and into a small boat easily.

They tie her hands behind her back and sit her down in the boat and jet off. A few minutes later, they slow down and move her from the dingy to a yacht. She says nothing, just bites on her lower lip and forces tears to her eyes. These people are armatures. No one checked her for a gun or knife or radio. They didn't even check to be sure her pregnant belly is real. They're practically begging to get punched and thrown off the side of the ship.

The men and Maria sit on the deck and stare at each other. They all seem uncomfortable with her presence, though she should be the most uncomfortable of them all. She keeps quietly crying and biting her lower lip until the man of the hour makes an appearance twenty minutes later, holding the satellite phone up to his ear and pacing around like a bored child.

"We have a hostage and we're in international waters. No one is going to interfere with us... Fine, fine. We're on our way." He hangs up and turns to Maria. "I'm so sorry to take you away from your cruise, but I need some insurance against getting arrested, and you just walked right up to me."

Maria wants to retort that he is far too easy, but it's not time to act yet. She's still waiting for the call from home base. They need to hurry up though, because her back is seriously killing her and god she just wants to lie down or shoot someone.

She does her best to channel the pain into her tear ducts, make herself think it's okay to cry about pain, that whimpering is perfectly normal and not something she's been trained to avoid at all costs.

But the whimpering turns to a gasp when out of nowhere she feels a rush between her legs and watches a puddle form underneath her legs. Luckily, no one is paying much attention to her at the moment, and she's left to sit in her puddle unnoticed. She sighs and leans back against the deck railing. Of course her water would break now. She wants to bet the back pain was contractions too.

It's time to start throwing some people. Even is SHIELD isn't ready to show up, her daughter is.

Her first course of action is to get her hands free, which is actually very easy since she done her best to leave room in her ropes and her wrists are damp from her personal puddle. Once she's free, she slides off her underwear and tucks it into her sweater pocket and then grabs an unsuspecting man around the neck, holds tight until he stops moving, and tosses him down some nearby stairs. She's done a quick headcount, and there are only two more mercenaries, the guy SHIELD is after, and the boat's captain.

This is so easy, it's no wonder her daughter decided now was the best moment to have a baby. She works fast making her way to the captain. She pulls the gun out from her thigh holster and gets him tied up in a blink. Three more to go.

The next mercenary she encounters is absolutely stupid. He doesn't call for help or even makes any noise to indicate a struggle. She assumes it's because he thinks he can take on a pregnant woman with a gun. He falls down the stairs unconscious because it turns out he can't. Not even close.

The noise of the man falling attracts the attention of the last mercenary and the dealer. They both come running at her, only one with a gun, and she easily shoots it out of the dealer's hand. The man is so busy holding his hand and whining about pain that the other mercenary is too distracted to pick up the fallen gun. Maria shoots him in the thigh. Both men are down and wounded, and Maria walks up to them and waves her gun about.

"SHIELD will be here to pick you up any minute no-"

She doesn't finish the sentence and ends up on her knees in front of them, gun still pointing in their direction. It hurts so badly right then. She wants to just lay down and go to sleep, but she's read all the books and she does her best to crouch. Gravity will be her doctor today.

The two men watch wide eyed as Maria reaches under her dress and comes back with blood with a little blood on her hand. And then, they watch her face contort and her lean back against anything she can find. She lowers her gun for a moment, and the mercenary almost goes for the fallen gun, but Maria points hers back up in a flash and glares at both of them.

Her face scrunches up in pain again, and she reaches down, and this time, her hand stays down there. It's a painful and awkward position, but Maria will be damned if anyone but her on this boat touches her or the baby.

Finally, SHIELD radios her.

"This is Eagle Eye. Mother Hen, are you there? SHIELD transport ETA is two minutes. Status of captives?"

Maria grits her teeth and sucks in a deep breath. "This is Mother Hen. All aboard the ship have been disarmed. The package is waiting for you on the deck. I've got my gun pointed at his head as we speak."

There is a pause, and then Maria sucks in another deep breath and continues. "Is there a possibility there's a medic aboard the transport?"

"No. Is the package in need of medical attention?"

"No, but a hostage just went into labor."

"We were under the assumption you were the only hostage aboard."

"Correct," she hisses out.

The line is silent from then on. She's not sure what happened over there, but it doesn't bother her too much, There's more pressing matters.

She doesn't want to, not right now, but she pushes when the contraction hits again because it feels right. And she feels it. She feels something round.

And from there, she just listens to her body and pushes and grunts and sweats and grunts. She never takes her eyes off the two men she's got at gunpoint. She watches them, glares at them, all while giving birth.

She can feel most of the baby now, and with one more push, she's holding a crying mass of flesh in her arm. She pulls the little mess out and takes a quick peek down at her new daughter. She's absolutely perfect, even is she does have horrible timing. But her eyes go back to her captives and she lays her daughter down in her lap.

Maris does her best to cut the umbilical cord one handed with the knife hidden in her bra, and then pull off her sweater to wrap up the little baby. She even nurses.

Still staring at her captives. Though it's not that hard now. The arms dealer fainted as soon as Maria cut the cord and the mercenary is honestly in shock from what he just witnessed.

The baby is calm and is drifting off to sleep when SHIELD finally arrives. Her partner is first onto the boat, and as soon as he catches sight of a messy Maria cradling a baby, he's at a lost and just stands there dumbly. She growls at him to take the captives, and when he finally moves, she pulls herself up off the ground and heads to the ship.

"I need medical attention," she announces. Everyone inside just turns to stare at her. She rolls her eyes. "I just had a baby! Maybe a fucking chair would be nice?"

She seated and her and the baby checked over by the only person who has any medical training. She doesn't miss when someone calls into base.

"Mother Hen is onboard. She's has a baby with her. ... I don't know, sir. Should I ask? Oh. Okay." The agent walks over to her and hands her the radio. "Eagle Eye wants to talk to you."

She takes the radio and smiles. "This is Mother Hen."

"Maria, are you alright? Is the baby okay? You had the baby? How did you..? You've been going on missions while pregnant this entire time? I just..?"

"..Phil. Breathe," she replies. She adjusts her hold on her daughter and grins while she hears frantic breathing on the other end. "Our daughter is fine. She's sleeping right now. You need to see her. She's just perfect. I swear she has your nose."

She hears his breathing slow down, and then a sigh. A happy one. "I'll see you two in about ten minutes. ...Over and out."

"Over and out," she repeats.

The ship takes them to the helicarrier, where Maria has often wanted to be stationed, and they put her up in the medbay there. As soon as they get her to sit on the bed, Phil is in the room and he looks conflicted on what to do. Maria smiles and motions for him to sit on the bed. As soon as he's seated, she sets their baby in his arms and leans back on the pillows.

"We have to name her, you know," she comments, but Phil doesn't hear her. He's staring down at their child and taking her in. Maria watches as he runs a finger down the baby's cheek and just stares.

After a while, he looks up at her, and she feels like she's back on that beach when that cute assistant first talked to her. She flustered and doesn't know what to say or do but look right back. It's that tinkle in his eye, she's always at a loss when she catches it.

"Maria..."

She hasn't head him say her name like that in months, so softly and loving, and it just crumbles whatever was left of her agent exterior. She shifts from the pillows to sit straight up and literally falls to pieces in front of him.

"I'm so sorry, Phil. I'm so sorry. I put our daughter in danger every single day and I just left you. I just wanted the job so much, but I didn't think about it. I didn't think how hard it was going to be, or how I was even going to pull it off. I didn't think how much I was leaving behind, how much I was taking with me..." She shudders for a moment and buries her face in her hands. "I'm a terrible person, and I know you'll never forgive me, and.."

But Phil just pulls her in close and she cries into his neck while he strokes her hair and rocks their child. Maria issuer he feels him crying against her. How can he even touch her? After the torture she's put him through.

"I've missed you so much, you have no idea," he whispers into her hair. She clutches onto him in response, hoping he understands she missed him too. They stay like this until their daughter wakes up hungry and Maria feeds her.

"I sort of picked out a name for her.." Maria nods encouragingly at this, and Phil snuggles Maria a little more into his side. " I was thinking Darcy. I read it in a baby name book a few weeks ago, and it's just stuck with me... but if you don't like it.. I mean, you've been with her the whole time you've probably already got something-"

"I've been calling her princess the whole time. Darcy sounds perfect."

They look down at her, their new baby, Darcy, and she looks right back up. Phil leans down and kisses Darcy on the forehead, then does the same to Maria.

A few days in the medbay later, Maria is called into Nick Fury's office. He's a high up, fresh from war and the CIA, and Maria is a little nervous. The man is going to be something big soon, she knows it, and if he wants her gone, she'll be gone, regardless of whether or not she just had a baby.

"Agent Hill. I heard you've been working hard during your pregnancy," he starts as soon as she's in the door.

She sits down in front of his desk, back straight and face emotionless. "Yes, sir."

"Heard you just had the baby too, on a mission no less."

"Yes, sir."

Fury looks at her hard, then shuffles some papers on his desk. "...Consider you maternity leave papers filed and in motion. We won't be needing you or Agent Coulson in the field for a few years." He leans forward and sizes her up before leaning back and spinning away from her in his chair. "Dismissed."

Mara gets up and leaves, unsure whether to be relieved, angry, or elated. But she freezes as soon as Fury speaks up again. "I saw your daughter, cute kid. Coulson keeps showing the pictures to everyone. It'd be shame for her to lose her parents..."

Maria doesn't move, doesn't even breathe when she hears this. She's in a panic because really, what is this man trying to tell her. Is she dead? Is she safe? Is she being let go? "I said you're dismissed Agent Hill. Gather your family and your personal belongings and get off the helicarrier as soon as possible."


	10. Returning 1992

It feels strange to her. Four months away from all this, and here she is, riding in the back of a car next to a baby carrier. She thinks all of this, but she knows what she means. Four months away from him and their home.

She's not sure what's going to happen. She's been apologizing to him for days, but he always just cuts her off and hugs her. It's confusing. She doesn't expect them to pick up right where they left off. They're not that happy, newlywed and expecting couple anymore. They're two people with a marriage license and a baby.

She wonders if he'll ever forgive her, but she has a feeling that if she'll never forgive herself, he's probably not going to either.

He parks the car and they take the elevator up to the apartment. In the elevator, Darcy starts to fuss, so Maria takes her out and rocks her while Phil holds the carrier. The doors ping open and the two of them make their way to their door. He opens it for them, and Maria feels like she stepping back into her old life.

The apartment is exactly the same as she left it. Not a piece of furniture has been moved, nothing added or removed. Until she rounds the kitchen counter and sees a high chair with a whimsical bird pattern on it. When she left, they didn't even have a high chair, but she had circled this one in a catalog months ago, so Phil must have bought it.

She rocks Darcy and stares at the high chair for a moment, before turning her stare on Phil. He's at the door, setting down the baby carrier and locking their front door. She wants to say something, anything, but more so she wants to cry.

It hurts her so bad to see that he's been waiting for her. She had hoped that maybe he would have moved on and given up on, but he just loves to prove her wrong. He's such a believer and dreamer. She wishes she could be like him, instead of hopeful, yet so much more doubtful.

He leads her toward the nursery, which Maria notices is finished, completely furnished, and has a closet bursting with little dresses and shoes. It's perfect. Phil draws her over to the crib and turns to her.

"Here, let's put her down for a nap. She's probably exhausted from the car ride... And then we can take a nap too," Phil whispers. He runs a hand over Darcy's head and then steps back. Maria carefully puts Darcy down and the two of them watch the tiny girl resettle herself and quickly fall into a deep sleep.

They stand there for a few minutes, just watching Darcy sleep, then Phil puts an arm around Maria and pulls her close. She snuggles into his side and sighs in contentment. She had missed this dearly. She tries not to think about how amazing he would have been throughout the rest of the pregnancy and focuses on how amazing of a father he is proving to be.

Maria turns to him and wraps both arms around his middle and burrows into his neck. Phil in turn holds her close and rubs her back. This is them, old them, the them Maria wishes they still were, but when they finally kiss each other for the first time in months, Maria realizes they've always been these people. They never stopped loving each other.

A few hours later, Maria wakes to the sound of faint crying and the mattress moving beneath her. She pokes her head out of the covers and catches a glimpse of red, white, and blue boxers leaving the room. She tries to get comfortable again in bed, but now the mattress is cold and there's no point in trying to heat it up by herself. She rolls out of bed and picks up Phil's discarded shirt and pulls it over her before following the crying and rustling into the kitchen, where Phil is rocking and singing to Darcy while trying to feed her.

She can't help but grin at what she sees.


	11. Familiar 2012

Her right arm is falling asleep, and it's a little uncomfortable, but it's such a familiar feeling to Maria. Darcy is asleep on her shoulder and Maria has her arm around her holding her close and keeping her warm. They've been sitting in the two chairs for hours now, Maria finishing her story long ago when Darcy drifted off.

Maria remembers nights like this. Darcy would wake up from a crazy nightmare and Maria would quietly tiptoe from her room to check on her. The two of them would end up on the couch watching TV and eating snacks until they fell asleep and Phil came to get them.

It's eerie how familiar this all feels to her.

She kisses the top of Darcy's head, who stirs a little before stilling, and rests her head atop her daughter's and looks over at Phil. It's been almost twenty years now, and it's never been like this. The two of them have always been so lucky and careful. But ever since Darcy's gotten older...

She wants them to be there at Darcy's wedding. She wants to be old and graying and finally have that house with the white picket fence and sit on the porch next to him. She wants a fiftieth anniversary. These twenty years have been the best twenty years of her life, and she wishes she could guarantee the next twenty by his side, but after what's happened in the last year, she is so doubtful it will ever clam down enough for them to be normal people.

She wonders if anyone else can directly pinpoint the moment in their life when everything took a turn for the worse, because Maria can, and it's a little terrifying to be able to see that her whole future is doomed by super heroes and aliens and guns.

Maria just about falls asleep herself until she notices some movement out of the corner of her eye. Her head snaps up and she does her best to keep from waking Darcy, but when she finally figures out what's happening, she nudges Darcy awake and reaches a hand out to grab Phil's. Darcy blinks into focus seconds later and both of them sit on edge as they wait for Phil to come to.

He finally opens his eyes and they hold their breath as he looks around the room until his eyes settle on them and he smiles. Everything seems to feel lighter and happier at that moment as the two of them move in closer to Phil and watch him fully wake up.

"So..." he says after clearing his throat, "How did Darcy get on to the helicarrier?"

Darcy laughs and looks down at her lap and Maria rolls her eyes. "Your father gave her a ride. He'll be back soon. He's been talking to Fury for hours."

Phil frowns a little and nods at this, but leave it at that. "How long have I been out?"

"Hoooooooouuuuuurs," Darcy replies. Phil laughs in response and Maria squeezes Darcy's hand with her free one.

They talk a little longer before Darcy goes to get the doctor, leaving Phil and Maria alone. As soon as the door shuts, the smile is gone from Maria's face and she's glaring at Phil. She takes her hand away from him and balls both hands into fists.

"You went to take down a hostile alien all by yourself and you almost died. Do you have any idea how angry I am at you?"

"I'm fine, though," he replies.

"You're fine? There was a fucking hole in you. You were in surgery for hours, and then knocked out for hours. Do you have any idea what you've put Darcy through? What you've put me through?"

"Someone had stop him, and I tired to be that person..."

"Well, you didn't stop him. You almost fucking died. I hope you're pleased. Everyone thinks you're dead, and if you're going to pull shit like this again then you might as well just save us all the trouble!" she yells back.

"... Maria. I'm sorry, but I was just following orders."

"Don't you fucking dare say that to me," she snarls.

"You have no room to judge me, Maria. You ran off and went on missions while pregnant. You spent a year in the army away from us. You've done dangerous things like this before."

"And I never ended up in a hospital bed with a bunch of wires coming out of me. I've been smart about my risks. I think them through. I don't just go pick up the largest gun I can find and take a shot at some magical alien man. I'm not trying to impress anyone or prove myself. I'm trying to stay alive!"

"And I'm trying to keep everyone alive."

"Phil, we're trained agents. We have guns and our hands. You don't have a suit of armor, super strength, exploding arrows, or a shield. Just your hands and a gun. Not even a bulletproof vest. You just walk around like you're invincible and, dammit, if you die I'm going to fall apart!" Maria yells.

It's quiet for a moment as this sinks in for both of them. A tear rolls down Maria's cheek and she hastily wipes it away. Phil reaches his hand out and finds her and lets his fingers intertwine with hers. He tries to sit up, but Maria quickly pushes him back down, so instead he just pulls her in close to him.

"I'm sorry, Maria," he whispers, and she just buries herself in his neck. He rubs a hand on her back and kisses whatever he can reach and repeats it a few more times until Maria is calm, or at least as calm as she can be.

Much later, Darcy is back in the room and the three of them are watching the news and sharing dinner. Kay and Jay have left with promises to check in again soon and now it's just the three of them, like always.

It's a familiar feeling.


	12. Sleepover 2002

The movie's credits are rolling on the screen, but neither of them really notice. They are far too wrapped up in each other. She has fistfuls of his shirt to hold him close while his hands are clutching her ass and holding her in his lap. It started out as just a simple peck in a slow part of the movie, but now it's a battle for dominance on the couch of the living room. They go on kissing and grinding against each other until they have to pull away to catch their breath.

They stare at each other panting, eyes on fire, and then start smiling and laughing. Maria wraps her arms around Phil's neck and tries to stifle herself on his shoulder while Phil leans back on the couch and takes Maria with him. The laughter ends a few moments later and the two of them are gasping for breath.

"When was the last time we even did that?" Phil gasps.

"Made out? Maybe for a few minutes on our anniversary?"

"We should do this more often, then."

Maria laughs again and sits up, towering over Phil. "Between work and Darcy, we never have time for this, though."

Phil relaxes underneath her. "Thank god for slumber parties."

Maria rolls her eyes and leans down to give Phil a kiss. "It's really quiet around here since she's gone."

"For now at least," Phil mumbles against her cheek before kissing it and then trailing down to her neck. Maria tilts her head and gives him better access while sliding her hands underneath his shirt and forcing it up.

"I like this shirt. It's really soft," Maria comments halfheartedly. "Did I buy this for you?"

Phil detaches himself for a moment. "I think it was a Father's day present," he mumbles before going back to her neck. Maria goes to running her hands over Phil's chest and stomach while still trying to get his shirt off, but Phil is determined to find that spot on her neck that used to drive her crazy.

"Phil, can you stop licking me for like five seconds so I can get your shirt off," Maria grunts.

Phil grabs Maria around the waist and sits up, then puts his arms up in the air and sighs. "I'm sorry for trying to turn you on," he grumbles. Maria says nothing in reply, just simply pulls his shirt up over his face and off his arms. It gets placed on the floor next to the couch, with Maria's dress following soon after.

They kiss, and it starts to heat up one more. Maria has one hand on his chest and the other in the waistband of his pants while Phil is working on trying to find the clasp to Maria's bra. She already has the button undone and the fly down when he finally gives up and notices the clasp is in the front. He has to stifle himself from yelling out "AHA!"

Maria leans back on the couch this time and looks up at him through her lashes, waiting. He doesn't take long to finish pulling his pants off and move over her. The skin on skin is bringing back memories of other good times, and finally they seem to be getting in the groove of things. A few heated kisses, and Phil trails a hand to the front clasp of Maria's bra.

Off in the, a few notes begin playing unnoticed, until the lyrics start.

_"Who's strong and brave, here to save the American way?_

_Who vows to fight like a man for what's right night and day?_

_Who will campaign door-to-door for America,_

_Carry the flag shore to shore for America,_

_From Hoboken to Spokane,_

_The Star Spangled Man with a Plan!" _

Maria groans and pushes at Phil's chest. "Your phone is going off," she whines.

"Just let it ring," he grunts back.

"I am not having sex to this song. Go get your phone."

"What if I just hum really loudly?"

"Go get your phone!" Maria snaps. She pushes Phil off her and the couch and crosses her arms over her chest in frustration. Phil runs to his phone in the kitchen and answers it before it has a chance to go onto the second verse.

"Coulson speaking."

"Mr. Coulson? This is Jade's mother. I think you need to come and pick up Darcy. I don't think she's ready to sleep away from home yet."

Hearing this. Phil runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Of course. We'll come pick her up. We should be there in thirty minutes."

He hangs up and looks across the room at Maria, who is siting up on the couch frowning. "Did she say why we needed to pick her up?" she asks quietly.

"Not really..."

Maria stands up and picks up her dress and tosses Phil his shirt and pants. They dress quickly and hurry to the car.

"She couldn't be homesick. Darcy is so independent," Maria mumbles.

"Maybe she left something at home?" Phil suggests.

Maria sighs and looks down at her lap. "I just hope she didn't get into a fight with one of the other girls. Making friends has always seemed harder for her."

Phil reaches a hand to her squeezes tight. "I'm sure she's fine."

As they approach the house, it's pretty obvious why Darcy isn't ready for sleepovers yet. Half of the second story of the apartment building is scattered around the street and five little girls and one woman are sitting on the stoop covered in ash and soot.


	13. Cold 1980

She sits on the end of the stairs in her snowsuit waiting for her nanny to come pick her up. The temperature is certainly low, if not below freezing, and the sun is starting to set in the city. It's nothing new to her. This has always been her life. She supposes the reason this nanny is late is because her father probably didn't even tell her where the school is or what time it lets out.

She is very well aware of the teacher standing inside the warm school watching her. He has asked several times if she wants to wait inside or have some hot chocolate, but she refuses each time. If she leaves the stoop and her new nanny can't find her, it will be far worse than pneumonia, the flu, hypothermia, and frostbite combined. There's a test tomorrow and she wants to get enough sleep to be ready for it.

Last night she barely slept at all because of the yelling. She had asked her old nanny to just stay out of it, to just do her job and keep her head down because that honestly just makes everything easier, but she wouldn't listen, just confronted her father and was immediately fired. Six nannies in six months because none of them will listen to her. The only way to survive is to follow orders and be as invisible as possible. She fears no one but her will survive.

The sun is completely set and shivers rack her body, but Maria refuses to move. She will survive the cold, she will survive her life. Someone will eventually pick her up, and if no one does, then she will walk home.

As soon as she spots the back town car pulling up in front of her school, the cold floods her system, along with pure terror and doom. It's not her new nanny here to pick her up. It's her father.

The busybody teacher walks out of the school to her and smiles. "I called your father and told him about how no one picked you up and you were going to freeze to death. Have a good night, Maria." He turns away and heads back into the school and never looks back. Why won't anyone just listen to her?

It's getting chilly outside, but that hardly affects him. His handler promised pie for dessert tonight and he is excited for it. But somehow he can't get the notion of how fun it would be to just sit outside in the cold air and take in the city out of his head. He's busy staring at a magazine full of cityscapes when his handler knocks on his door.

"Phil, dinner is in ten minutes. Please take off the costume and wear something nice. Your father is joining us tonight," he instructs through the door.

Part of him hates this. He feels like a caged animal, but there's a good reason he's here. He's different from other people and he needs to be protected until he knows how to defend himself and blend in with society. He wonders how he is supposed to blend in when he's not even a part of society, but his handler has told him many times that society is made of outcasts and people who don't belong. Once he's out there, he'll be invisible, and that's fine with him, he just wants to get out there finally.

He hastily changes out of his hand-made Captain America costume and puts on a pair of slacks and a button down shirt and heads to the dining room of their underground apartment. At the table is his father, chatting happily with his handler. Both of them turn and spot Phil and smile.

"Phil! I see you're finally not wearing that costume you made," his father says with a smirk. Phil shakes his head and sits at the table.

"Even Captain America has to wear civilian clothes every once in a while," Phil says coolly. His father and handler laugh, and all three tuck into their dinner.


	14. Sleep 1990

It's late at night when she wakes up. Something warm has pulled her out of her dream. She turns on her side and realizes it is Phil. He is fast asleep on his back with both arms wrapped around Maria, holding her close.

This is strange for her. With all her past partners, they leave as soon as her eyes drop. She wonders if perhaps he just fell asleep on accident. Maybe he was trying to leave and woke her up and is just waiting for her to fall back asleep. Millions of possibilities run through her head while she stares at his sleeping face.

After a few moments, Phil begins to stir under het gaze. He blinks awake in the dim city lights leaking through the windows and groggily finds her face.

"Hey," he rasps. His voice is still thick with sleep. "What are you doing up?"

"You fell asleep," she answers.

Phil blinks a few times and scrunches his brows. "Uh-huh… You want me to leave?"

"Do you want to?"

He looks at her confused and then smiles. "Well, I planned on having a great night with you and then taking you out to breakfast, but if you don't want to…"

Maria shakes her head and watches as he smiles and then drifts back off to sleep. She continues to stare at him and trace the lines on his face with her eyes as she tries to figure out exactly what he meant.

But it's obvious isn't it. They're spending the night together, and the morning, and probably even the day. They're in an actual relationship and it's going well. They've been dating for five months now. This is the longest she's ever been in a relationship, and the best one she's been in.

She wants to cry because there's no way this is going to last. Years and years have trained her to keep herself from relaxing when things started getting good. It's just the sign that everything is about to get worse.

She's going to wake up and he's going to be gone and it's over. Or maybe next week they'll have a fight and he'll turn around and walk away from her and never look back. Or he might… No. He would never do that. Leave her, sure, but Phil is not the kind of man to hurt anyone. He makes her feel safe and that's what terrifies her the most.

She doesn't even know she's crying until Phil's hands are slowly wiping away her tears. She doesn't want to look at him and admit how vulnerable she is right now, and he doesn't force her or beg her to. He just rubs her back with one hand and catches tears with the other.

The sun starts to rise and the glow catches on everything. The light shows off Maria's red and puffy eyes and the tear tracks of a few tears Phil couldn't catch, but she then sees his face and red eyes. She wants to ask him why he's crying too, but she doesn't. It would be cruel of her to force him to reveal his feelings without giving away hers.

So she scoots up the bed and kisses him instead. It's soft and slow and it makes the tears well up in her eyes again, but this time not because she's afraid, it's because she's raw and their relationship feels so real. Her hands reach up and hold his face, and soon she's returning the favor and wiping under his eyes.

The sun fully rises and there is not a shadow in the room to hide in. So she holds Phil close, like he already is with her, and whispers to him. She tells him how he terrifies her and hoe she's scared she'll never be a full person. She tells him about how her whole life she's lived in the shadow of never being good enough and being the wrong person. She tells him about how she's a survivor, and how there's some one out there who wishes she was never born. Maria keeps spilling all her secrets to him and he quietly takes it all in. She wants to be in love, and she knows it will never work out between them if she doesn't tell him why she's the way she is.

When she finishes, he closes his eyes and frowns and sighs and then kisses her just as soft as she had earlier, and then kisses her forehead and opens his eyes when he pulls away.

"I'm so sorry, Maria," he whispers finally.

She should frown and cry more, but instead she smiles up at him. It almost sounded like 'I love you", and it's probably what he meant. He smiles back at her, then lets go of her and sits up in the bed.

"How about we go get some breakfast and then talk some more


	15. Answering 1990

It's weird to think that in three weeks she has a date in New York with a man she really doesn't know that well. But he arrested a man who held a gun at her head and that seems pretty worthy of at least a cup of coffee. Besides, they connected so well during the couple of hours they spent talking. And that kiss in her trailer.

Well, what can she say? She's a young woman and she's drawn to him. He's a mysterious secret agent. It's like a romance novel, thrilling and fun to think about, but this is real life and he probably could kill her and hide her body before people even find out she's missing. Now that's just creepy.

But that's Agent Coulson she's thinking about, not Phil. Phil is a sweet guy who blushes and has a very patriotic American flag keychain and thinks she has a great singing voice and shares her taste in books. Phil is who she's going out on a date with. Phil is who she kissed. This is Phil's number in her hand.

So it seems pretty normal for her to dial the number from her hotel room and twirl the cord in her hand while she waits for him to pick up. It rings about eight times, and then goes to voicemail.

" This is Coulson. I can't come the phone right now. Please leave a massage at the beep."

Maria bites her lip and readies herself to leave a message. She hears the beep and nervously clears her throat. "Hey, Phil! This is Maria. From last week. Maria Hill. The one from the beach. The singer...? So, umm... I was just calling to ask what you want to do on Friday in three weeks. I mean, I just want to hear your suggestions or whatever. It's no big deal or anything I just-"

The line cuts off and Maria hears the dial tone.

She spends the next week nervously waiting around the phones in her hotel rooms as she tours the east side of Canada. When a week has passed from her phone call and there still hasn't been a response, Maria decides to try again. This time, she writes a script.

" This is Phil Coulson. I can't come the phone right now. Please leave a massage at the beep."

"Hi Phil, it's Maria Hill. I just wanted to call and check that we're still up for meeting in New York in two weeks. I have a couple of suggestions if you don't have anything panned. Planned! Why did I write panned? Stupid! I mean... Uhm... So give me a call when you get this, bye."

She's unsure whether this is better or worse than her first attempt, and settles for equally embarrassing.

Just like last time, a week passes, and she gets nothing in return. She's starting to doubt he actually has her number and this number is actually just fake. In one week, she's going to end up in New York, standing on the street completely alone and angry.

There's only seven days until the Friday, and tomorrow she's getting on the plane to take her there, and then she has a few low-key concerts and signings and a spot on a local morning show. She's going to be so busy until Friday, which she made sure to keep open. So she calls the number again.

"You've reached Phil Coulson. I'm away right now, but please leave your message after the beep. Thanks!"

"Hey, look Coulson. I haven't heard from you in three weeks, and I'm going to be really busy this week, so I just wanted to let you know that I still consider this date happening, and I'm going to hunt you down if you stand me up."

She slams the phone down and finishes packing. The plane ride goes smoothly, and so do all her events, and suddenly it is Thursday night and she is picking out a casual dress and shoes, nothing too fancy just in case she gets stood up but she still wants to show off and show him what he missed during the three weeks.

Something pricks at the back of her head, and she has the itch to call one more time, just incase. Maybe he'll actually pick up this time. She dials the number, which she has memorized now and waits for it to ring right times before the answering machine picks up.

"This is Phil Coulson! I can't get to the phone right now, but leave a message after the beep!"

Maria sucks in a breath, ready to make one last stand when the message continues on.

"And if this is Maria Hill, the zoo in the park near the penguins, 2pm. I promise not the stand you up."

She hears the beep and it takes a moment for her to regain speech. She clears her throat awkwardly and wraps the phone cord up in her fingers.

"Hey Phil, it's Maria. Just letting you know I can't wait to see you there. So, see you tomorrow, bye!"

She hangs up and tries to calm herself down so she can go to sleep.

At midnight, Phil finally gets home to his apartment, weary and covered in strange ooze. Another mission gone well, but a messy one. And he wore his favorite tie today too for luck. He drops his keys on the counter and heads tot he shower when he sees his answering machine blinking with a new message. He plays it and smiles when he hears Maria's voice, and almost laughs when he notices how flustered she is. Hopefully she understands how hard it is for him to get to the phone during normal day hours. He makes sure to get squeaky clean for tomorrow and sleeps like a rock until 1pm.


	16. Hair 1990

On their third month anniversary, her hair has gone from bleached blonde and wavy to silky brown curls. He doesn't want to say anything about it, not to be rude, he's just not sure how to talk about her dramatic hair change without sounding like it's a big deal. Or maybe it is a big deal? He's not sure. She's not drawing attention to it or talking about it, but every once in a while, she wraps a curl between her fingers and looks surprised as it springs out of her grasp.

He finally works up the nerve when they sit down for lunch. He waits until after she's done thoughtfully chewing on her piece of bread, and can't help but notice that she is rather distant today. Strange.

"Maria?" She jerks back to the present, drops her bread on the table and blinks at him a few times. "I noticed you, uh, changed your hair..."

She grabs for the curl she's been playing with all day and roughly tugs on it before sighing and letting it go. It's almost like she keeps forgetting what her hair looks like. "Yeah... I figured that it was time for a change. Or well... to go back to my natural color," she murmurs nervously.

He can only wonder why she's so self conscious about her new, well old hair. Personally, Phil prefers the brunette. It makes her look so elegant, very mature, although he knows she'll never grow up completely. But he likes this new hair. Part of him wants to blurt out how it makes her looks extremely beautiful and he's ready to leave the restaurant and take a walk with her just so he can see her pretty new hair and bright smile closer, but he just smiles at Maria. "I like it a lot. It suits you."

"Thank you," she says softly, tiny smile gracing her features.

Lunch carries on with casual conversation about Phil's top secret work and Maria finding herself a very nice apartment. They go for a walk, and they share a few sweet kisses before Maria checks the time and realizes she has some paperwork to deliver for her apartment. Phil offers to tag along and help, but she politely declines, kisses him goodbye, and speeds off.

A week later, they get together to watch a movie in her new apartment.

"I can't believe you've never seen Born on the Fourth of July, Maria. Pretty much everyone has," he calls while trying to set up her VCR.

She calls out from the kitchen, trying to make popcorn, "Some of us were touring the mall circuit in Canada when this came out!"

He finally gets the VCR clock to stop blinking and pops in the tape and shuffles back to the couch while the previews for upcoming movies play. He takes this moment to look around her small, yet classy apartment and notice little things. There's only one framed picture, it's on the table next to the couch, but there pictures of them taped to her fridge, and he's seen those already. There are a few pillows, and one or two little knickknacks and an award with a maple leaf, hockey stick, and microphone on it, but nothing else. Maybe she's still unpacking.

He decides to take a good look at the picture on the table next to him and sees a tall brunette man hugging a very petite blonde woman. He can pick out some facial features that match Maria from the man, so Phil assumes that's her father, but Maria has nothing in common with the woman except... Their ears are similar. And two weeks ago, they had the same hair color. So these are her parents. They look like a happy family. Maria probably had a great childhood with two loving parents. Lucky.

He doesn't notice she's in the room until she reaches over him and takes the photo frame from his hands and looks down at it. Her usual smile is gone, and she looks very passive and almost sad.

"My dad always comments on how my mother and I didn't look alike at all... I dyed my hair to look like hers when I was twelve..."

He's not sure what to say to her. She sounds so sad, but she shouldn't be sad. She had such a beautiful family. Those people are supposed to be the happiest. This is so confusing.

"She died right after I was born... I just..." she trails off and puts the picture face down on the coffee table, right next tot he bowl of popcorn she must have brought in with her. He wants to ask her questions and comfort herald figure out all the things she's not telling him, because he knows she's keeping secrets, and he's just stumbled onto the first of many.

But before he can say anything, she's turning up the volume on the movie, leaning on his shoulder, and offering him popcorn. It's obvious she's not saying anything, and Phil realizes that it's okay. This whole relationship, while it feels like it's perfectly falling into place, is still very new, and even though he's head over heels for her, and she's told him a few times she's crazy about him, they're still getting used to each other and sharing.

Besides, there's plenty he hasn't told her yet, half because he honestly can't under United States law, and half because he's terrified of what will happen when he tells her. They have time.


	17. Glass 1997

Sometimes Maria wishes she had missions too. She misses the thrill of having a gun strapped to her hip, of danger being around the corner, of all her careful planning coming together in perfection, and the last minute changes that keep things interesting. It was an exciting life.

But then she remembers who she is now. She's a wife and mother. Her daughter is only five years old, and Maria promised herself and Darcy as soon as she found out she was pregnant that she would always be there for her daughter. Missions would be fun, but there's nothing Maria loves more than seeing Darcy's face light up when Maria hugs her after another day of kindergarten.

She can tell Darcy is not that excited to see her father go. Maria isn't either. While it means girls nights, baking cookies, and watching movies all weekend that aren't patriotic or American classics, it also means that he's not going to pull them off the couch late at night and put them in bed, or wake them up early with waffles and fresh fruit, or calm them down when they get just a little too crazy.

It's just mother and daughter on their own for two days, and they don't like it. They're a whole piece, and when one of them is missing, it's just upsetting. Plus, Phil hasn't told her anything about this mission other than "I'll be perfectly safe, don't worry. It's just two days."

They wave goodbye to him as he drives away in a taxi, late at night, from the stoop of their building. Darcy is in her pajamas, wrapped in a blanket, sitting on her mother's hip, and every few seconds, Maria is squeezing the little girl closer. The night is chilly and just another reminder that it's just the two of them this weekend.

The taxi finally turns a corner and the two of them stop waving and watch the end of the block like Phil is going to come running back. Darcy yawns against Maria's shoulder, and Maria takes this as the cue to head inside. "Well, princess, it is very late for you. I think it's time for bed."

"But mommy," Darcy yawns again, "It's Friday. Can't we watch a movie?"

Maria softly laughs and kisses the top of her daughter's head. "Maybe tomorrow night, sweetie, but I have a feeling you won't make it past the previews."

Darcy sleepily pouts, and falls asleep in the elevator, just like Maria hoped, and the mother does her best to unlock her apartment door with one hand and carefully put her little one to bed. But when she finally gets Darcy into the room, the little girl refuses to let go of Maria's neck. Too tired to fight it and secretly glad, Maria just hauls her daughter into her and Phil's bedroom and dozes off with her little princess curled up at her side.

The two of them wake up in the afternoon with huge grins on their faces. Darcy already has a list written out of activities she wants to do with just the two of them. Chocolate chip pancakes, a movie marathon, nail painting, drawings, jewelry making, cookies, cupcakes, a trip to the park, a trip to the movies to see Mulan, the list is actually two pages long, front and back. Maria is pretty sure they won't finish it, but what they don't accomplish together, they'll do next weekend with Phil hopefully.

"Morning, Mommy," Darcy yawns. Maria sighs happily.

"Good morning, Princess. How about some chocolate chip pancakes?"

Darcy squeals and jumps out of the bed, and runs into the kitchen. Maria rolls on her side and looks at the time, then slowly follows behind Darcy.

The two of them set to work on making breakfast even though it's a lost three in the afternoon. Maria is working on cracking eggs and mixing batter after Darcy pours in half a bag of chocolate chips. Maria turns her back and begins pouring batter on in the skillet when she hears a loud shriek and a crash behind her.

She spins around quickly to see orange juice all over the table and broken glass on the floor, and Darcy staring down at the ground on the verge of tears. Darcy looks up, face scrunched up, and starts blubbering.

For a moment, time freezes for Maria. Something here seems so familiar, like she's lived this moment before, but not from her current point of view. She remembers being so small and she was just thirsty. She was always thirsty. Climbing on the counter. A glass. Broken glass everywhere. Yelling. And then there was that coat closet, the one near the door, full of heavy winter coats and old boots, and there was barely any air, it must have been days before her nanny finally found her.

She feels tears prick at her eyes, and blinks them away, and then she finally hears Darcy crying. Maria leaps into action, careful to sidestep the broken glass, and scoops Darcy up from table. She plops her down on the living room couch and checks her daughter for any cuts or broken glass, while Darcy continues to cry. Sure that Darcy is safe, Maria pulls Darcy into a hug and making shushing noises as she rubs the little girl's back.

"It's okay, Darcy. It's all okay. I'm here. I've got you," she whispers. "Mommy's here. It's okay."

After a few minutes, Darcy begins to calm down and her blubbering starts getting coherent. "I'm sorry... I broke the glass... I just wanted to help... I'm sorry," she manages between sobs.

Maria smiles and kisses the top of Darcy's head. "It's okay, princess. I'm so proud of you for trying. I'm more worried about you than the glass, anyways."

Darcy pulls back, surprised. "You don't care about the glass?"

Maria laughs and shakes her head. "Some one could come in our house and break every glass we have and I wouldn't care one bit, but Darcy, you and your dad are my two favorite people in the whole wide world. I don't know what would happen if you or him got hurt. I love you both so much."

Late Sunday night, Phil comes home to find Maria and Darcy passed out on the couch as the last few minutes of Batman & Mr Freeze: Subzero plays on the TV. Both of them have horribly painted red nails and are wearing obviously handmade beaded necklaces. The kitchen sink is overflowing with dirty dishes, and Phil has a pretty good idea no one even touched the piles of laundry.

He bends down in front of the couch and gently nudges Maria awake, who lights up as soon as she realizes he's home. She kisses him softly on the lips, and then rests her head onto of Darcy's, who is fast asleep on top of Maria. She tries to pull Darcy's arms off her neck, but once again, the little girl refuses to let go. Phil shakes his head and tries to get up, but Maria grabs his shirt sleeve and pulls him back over. Carefully, she scoots forward on the couch, making just enough room for Phil to sit behind her, and then looks up at him expectantly.

It takes a minute for him to get comfortable, but soon he's got both Maria and Darcy, fast asleep on top of him, and he can only wonder what he's missed this weekend.


	18. OUR SONG 1997

He passes her in the hall and just can't shake the weird feeling overtaking him. Every time they cross paths, he's unnerved. Something about Agent Hill just bothers him to no end. He wishes he could figure out what it is, but they barely know each other.

She's a little younger than him, born and raised in Chicago, single parent household, and used to serve in the armed forces until Fury caught wind of her and quickly pulled her into SHIELD.

That's honestly all he knows about her, all pulled from her personnel file, except for the fact that she's an ill-tempered, trigger happy woman who rolls her eyes and questions every one's authority, that he knows from experience.

He just doesn't like her at all.

His least favorite thing is having to work with her so often. Maybe there's just a weird angle on her face that bothers him, or perhaps it's her voice. He's not sure. He just can't stand being in the same room as her. It almost physically hurts to be near her.

He has no idea why.

Sometimes, he starts talking to her, and he can see her zone out. If what he was saying wasn't always of upmost importance, he'd find it curious the way her eyes glaze over when he says certain phrases. He has no idea what goes on in her head, but he really can't be bothered to care.

Sometimes he catches her staring at him, and he wonders why, but then he's caught himself staring at her just as often.

He doesn't hate her. He just doesn't want to be around her. She drives him crazy and makes him miserable. His shoulders physically ache after having to spend the day with her. Missions with her leave him feeling hollow inside and exhausted.

His girlfriend doesn't care for Agent Hill either. She constantly claims that Hill is going to swoop in and steal him from his sweet, kind girlfriend. He laughs at this. Hill and him have nothing in common. She would never want him.

He doesn't know why his chest hurts when he says this.

He's been working with Agent Hill for three months when she finally talks to him like he's a person and not a soldier.

"…You have a girlfriend, right?" she asks quietly while finishing a mission report across the table from him.

He pauses, and almost doesn't want to answer her, but he has no reason to feel guilty around Agent Hill.

"Yes. We've been dating for two months," he replies softly.

Agent Hill looks up from her computer and stares at him. He has no idea what her expression means, but it twists his insides.

"You're very lucky. Not many agents can balance this and a love life," she murmurs back. She quickly goes back to typing away. He takes a moment to really look at her. Grayish blue eyes, shiny brown hair, cheeks bones, dignified nose, and pouty lips. The lips are what catch him, which is strange because Phil is definitely not a lip guy, but she bites the corner of her bottom lip then releases it as she mouths the words she's typing, and he swears he knows those lips. Maybe not on her. But someone has lips just like those, he just can't remember who.

He owns some things that he honestly can't explain. He has almost every Disney movie on VHS, a large collection of hockey sticks, and a cassette tape that has "OUR SONG" written on it. He never questioned any of it until his girlfriend came over and pointed them out. When she leaves after dinner, he looks around and finds even more things he can't remember every obtaining, but he knows they belong to him.

He's not sure why he owns a child's size 4 Captain America costume. He knows it isn't his. He hand made his, and it's full of holes and tears. This one is store bought. Recently.

After filling a large box with objects and clothes he can't just remember the story behind, he picks up the cassette tape and puts it in his stereo. A cheesy 80's pop ballad plays over the speakers, and when he listens to it, he realizes he has never felt this empty before.

Maria Hill doesn't just dislike Agent Coulson. She hates him with every fiber of her being. Just being in the same room as him makes her blood boil in a rage. If he wasn't such a great agent, she would do everything she could to get him fired.

She doesn't know why she hates him. It might be little things. He's so quiet and collected. He always looks at her disapprovingly whenever she points out a plan's flaws. He wants to follow the rules, chained to protocol, and she just wants to throw him and the ground and defy him.

Maria is also not the biggest fan of his girlfriend. The woman is brainless, dyed blonde, and easily jealous. So they work together? That doesn't mean Maria feels anything for emotionally stunted Agent Coulson. But his girlfriend can't get it though her thick head and constantly accuses Maria of trying to "poach her man." It makes her want to laugh, because she could do so much better.

But it does make her wonder why she hasn't done better.

He just rubs her the wrong way. She almost wants to go back to the army instead of be stuck at SHIELD with this man.

His voice annoys her too. It's so calm, almost monotone, and whenever he starts talking to her in hushed tones, her mind drifts away and she has strange daydreams she just can't understand, and that just frustrates her more.

She swears she knows someone who looks just like him, but she can't remember who, and she gets caught so often staring at him and trying to remember, and she just wants him to tell her, but he doesn't know. She wishes she could remember. She's almost tired of being angry at Agent Coulson for no reason.

She knows absolutely nothing about him. She ventures to guess he's from a middle class family, has brothers and sisters, and was pretty well off in school. She wants to say he's from New York, maybe Brooklyn, not from his accent, which he doesn't have, but from the way he knows almost every little part of it.

He's just so uptight and closed off. She wonders how he ever got a girlfriend. She wants to ruffle his hair, loosen his tie, and untuck his shirt. She hates working with that robot of a man.

After a long week of rolling her eyes at Agent Coulson and arguing with Director Fury, Maria is almost glad for appointment with the helicarrier's doctor. He asks her the usual questions and gives her a full physical, and checks everything. If it weren't for the discomfort, she'd be half asleep. She almost doesn't catch it when the doctor asks about a baby.

"Excuse me?" she asks.

"How long ago were you pregnant? It doesn't say it on your medical records, but your body is showing clear signs of a pregnancy not too long ago," the doctor replies.

Maria goes shakes her head. "I've never been pregnant. I don't have any children."

The doctor stares at her and then goes back to work. "Very well, Agent Hill."

Maria leans back at and stares at the ceiling. She doesn't know why, but tears well up, and she does her best to inconspicuously wipe them away.

They're stuck in a car, driving to Oklahoma to pick up some tech, and it is dead silent. Agent Coulson is driving while Agent Hill is looking out the window watching the scenery fly by and occasionally barking at Agent Coulson to speed up.

They pull over at a gas station halfway through, and Agent Hill offers the pump the gas while Agent Coulson goes in the minimart for snacks and to stretch his legs. She gets the nozzle in the tank and sets it up quickly, and then leans against the car and reads bits and pieces from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. After a few minutes, Coulson comes back with two large coffees and two packs of donuts. He looks down at the book in her hands and she watches him smile, but they make eye contact and both stare impassively at each other.

They continue on the road in silence, until they get stuck on a one-lane road behind a large truck. Hill instantly begins yelling driving instructions, and a few minutes later, the truck has blown a tire. Coulson is surprised when Hill tells him to pull over and offers the driver a ride to the nearest truck stop.

They decide to stay at the cheap motel across the street from the stop and get SHIELD to pay for a room with two beds and breakfast at the IHOP next door.

He's in sweatpants and his undershirt flipping channels while she's in the bathroom showering. There's nothing on basic cable except static, so he tries staring at the ceiling until Hill comes out and he can get to sleep. It doesn't work, and he turns on his side to see a dog-eared copy of Nightmares and Dreamscapes on the table.

He grabs it and flips it open to a random page, and reads a few line before noticing the blue ink notes in the margins. Thing he would point out were wrong in the book were already written down, staring right back at him. So they did have something in common after all.

He hears the doorknob turn and quickly puts the book back and pretends to flip channels again. He does his best not to look at Hill, but he catches her out of the corner of his eye in an oversized gray tee shirt and shorts, hair still a little damp, and it looks familiar to him.

She sits down on the other bed and says goodnight. He returns it and turns out the lights. Neither of them is able to sleep.

They're almost to Oklahoma when Hill finally loses her temper and demands Coulson turn on the radio or something because the silence is driving her crazy. The car's radio picks up nothing but Spanish channels, and only has a cassette player, so it seems it's either salsa or static until Coulson pulls a cassette out of his jacket pocket and hands it to her.

"It's kind of an 80's mixtape. You might not like it, but it's better than this," he adds, eyes trained on the road.

She pops it in and as soon as the first few notes start to play, Agent Hill screams.

Coulson pulls over and turns to see her wide-eyed in terror staring at the cassette player. He assumed there was a bug or a man with a gun, but nothing's wrong that he can tell.

Hill ejects the tape and reads "OUR SONG" written on the side, and stares at him.

"Is this some kind of joke?" she hisses.

He shakes his head, confused. "...No? I just found the tape in my apartment last week."

"When did you find out? How long have you known about this?" she questions.

"Like I said, Hill. I found it. I don't even know who the singer is."

"It's me," she whispers. He blinks incredulously at her.

"There's no way that's you. This is some kind of stunt to get me fired. Prove it's you," he challenges.

She looks around, worried someone might be hiding in the car ready to yell surprise or laugh at her, but exhales the breath she's been holding once she makes sure the backseat is clear.

She hums the first few notes, then starts singing the lyrics to the mystery ballad the exact same way Coulson has been hearing all week. Agent Hill is the voice that's been haunting him. He's not sure what it means.

She finishes the chorus and glares at him. She's not sure, but the song makes her feel so empty inside. It's probably the lyrics, all about a breakup, but she doesn't remember a break up that could cause this much pain.

Coulson stares back at her, then shakes his head and pulls back onto the road. "We're almost at the drop off. We don't have a lot of time to sit around and listen to music, " he mutters. Hill continues to glare at him. "Agent Hill, I seriously don't know how your song is on this mixtape. I didn't even know you could sing."

Hill rolls her eyes and puts the cassette back in. Part of her want to break it, but then she also wants to know what other songs made it on there. Coulson glances over surprised when the music starts playing again, but drives on silently. After Hill's _Sandcastles in the Sand_ finishes, _I've Got the World on a String_ sung by Frank Sinatra follows right after it, then _Wouldn't It Be Nice _by the Beach Boys, and it's suddenly very clear there is a story behind this mixtape but Hill has no idea what that story is.

And neither does Coulson.

They finally get to the drop off point and collect the new tech, and Agent Hill takes over the driving. Coulson annoys her with his fidgeting so she gives him her book to read so she can concentrate on driving while _Secret Agent Man _by Johnny Rivers plays in the background.

They're closer to New York than Oklahoma when they pull over at a hotel for the night. This time, they end up in a room with one queen sized bed because of a convention going on nearby filling up all the rooms. It's raining hard that night, and Hill sits on her side of the bed reading her book while Coulson showers.

The day has been awfully strange, and there are emotions in Hill's head that she just can't quite sort out. She feels sad and empty inside, tensed and frustrated, and then elated and light. She doesn't want to sort through this, and instead just [lows through her book and hopes Coulson will hurry up so she can try to get some sleep.

Coulson spends most of his five minute shower trying to figure out why Agent Hill's cheesy ballad is the first song on a mixtape that says "OUR SONG" on the side, and is filled with love songs. The first song is about a break up, it doesn't belong at all. There's a reason it's the first song, but he just can't figure it out. He gives up once he realizes how tired he is, and dries himself off and puts on a tee shirt and sweatpants.

Hill is consumed with her book, and he takes a moment to look closely at her. Her hair is in a loose ponytail, falling around her face as she mouths the words she's reading. Tonight she is wearing a tank top and sweatpants and something about the makes the back of his head itch, but he leaves it alone and makes his presence known by clearing his throat and closing the bathroom door behind him.

The two of them fall asleep with their backs turned to each other and on the far, opposite sides of the bed, confused, but exhausted.

The morning sun peeks through the hotel's cheap curtains and wakes Coulson gently. He really doesn't want to wake up. He was having the most pleasant dream. He was sitting in a nursery, rocking a small baby is his arms in the middle of the night. He's not sure what it means, but it was such a sweet, pleasant dream, and it left him warm inside, and he wishes the dream was real. Half asleep, he tights his arms around the woman snuggled to his chest and kisses the top of her head, then tries his best to go back to his dreams.

Then he realizes that Agent Hill and him and wrapped in each other's arms. In fact, he has her trapped in his arms, while one of her hands is supporting her head on shoulder, while the other one is reaching around to link fingers with his hand on her hip. It's almost like this is a common position for them. Like they've done this before. But they haven't. They've never slept in the same bed. They're only co-workers, not even friends.

He's about to dislodge himself when he feels Agent Hill stir in his arms. It must have been his groggy kiss. He's not sure what to do. If he moves, he'll wake her up faster, but if he stays still, he's not sure how she'll react. Looking down at her sleepy, peaceful face and bedhead makes him choose to feign sleep until she wakes him up.

But when he hears her groan his first name, he can't pretend to ignore this. He's about to whisper her name back when her eyes open and she tilts her head up to look at him. There's a small, tired smile on her face, but it fades into panic as her eyes come into focus and she wakes up.

Once she realizes what's going on, she jumps back from him and sits up in bed. She stares at him for a few seconds before grabbing her shoes and running out of the room as fast as possible.

He shakes his head, too tired toe even process his emotions and begins his morning routine of shaving and teeth brushing. Agent Hill comes back ten minutes later with two cups of coffee and a couple of bagels. He eats one thoughtfully as she takes her turn in the bathroom, and neither one of them say a word to each other for the rest of the trip.

A few days later, they're finishing up some files for Fury when Hill clears her throat. He looks up and sees her staring at him, almost shy. "About the other night, Coulson…" she starts.

He fidgets with the papers in front of him while he waits for her to get her nerve back. "I understand that you might have sleepily thought I was that girlfriend of yours, Missy. So, we can just never talk about it ever again."

He wants to tell her that he's never slept with his girlfriend, and when she comes over to watch a movie, they never cuddle like that. He wants to tell her he's never held anyone like he held her that night, even though the way he was holding her felt so familiar. He wants to ask her questions. He has so much he wants to say to her, but something is stopping him. Something in his mind he can't recognize is telling him no and to just stay away from her even though it feels like every inch of his body is calling out to her. He wonders what kissing her is like. And he has a good feeling he'll never know.

So instead, he looks up at her with his same blank look and replies, "Her name is Chrissy actually."

His heart feels so heavy after saying that, especially the way that hill's face seems to just fall into a huge grimace, then a scowl, but that part of his brain cheers him on.

Something doesn't want him to know who Maria Hill is, and it makes him wonder why Phil Coulson wants to know.


	19. Frustrated 1990

He watches her with a smirk as he hits the play button on the stereo. Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On first few famous notes start playing and Maria bites her lip to keep from laughing. The smirk doesn't leave his face as he approaches the kitchen counter diving them.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" she says with a grin. He leans close to her over the counter and tilts his head to the side.

"If I have to try, I guess last night wasn't that great."

Maria leans back and tries to stifle her laughter with her hand. "Dear god, Phil. That was really bad," she manages.

He tilts his head to the other side and slowly rounds the counter, smirk still in place and eyes locking in on hers. Maria stares back at him, still amused by all of it.

"Are you trying to get me to have sex with you in your kitchen?"

He's less than a foot away from her, his smirk getting more pronounced.

Maria rolls her eyes. "Phil, I am in the middle of frying bacon, can it wait five minutes?"

He cocks his head back to the other side and slowly smiles at her. Maria sighs and tosses her spatula in the sink and moves the pan full of bacon off the stove.

Every time he uses that damn smile, she's powerless. It's terrible because he knows it. At least he uses his power responsibly.

She about the turn around and face him when she feels his arms wrap around her waist and pull her close. She jumps a little when she feels that part against her, still getting used to the more intimate sides of being intimate.

"Sorry," he murmurs into her hair.

She slowly shakes her head against his cheek. "No, no. It's good."

She can tell he takes that as his okay to go forth when he starts kissing her neck. His kisses are always so slow and deliberate. Like he's making a point. He kisses just below her ear and she jumps again.

"Sorry," he mutters and goes to move away, but she reaches up and holds his face there.

"No, keep going. It felt good."

He resumes loving on that particular spot and Maria takes to leaning against him. He groans in response. She leans back forward, about to apologize, when he pulls her back to him. "That was a good groan."

It's almost silly. She knows how sex works. She's had sex before. But this is different. Every move is intentional, even when she isn't sure what moves she's making herself. Past experiences have always been quick and sloppy, but this now is slow, soft, and, despite how cheesy it sounds to her, passionate.

After their first time, he had admitted it was different for him too. The way the night had been, she had assumed he was well versed, but he assured her not really. He usually had no idea what he was doing. He still didn't with her.

His hands move from holding her waist to resting on her hips while he switches to the other side of her neck. One of her hands stoke his cheek while the other is busy rubbing circles on his knuckles. After a few moments, Maria reaches for his mouth, and they come together for a heated kiss. As it intensifies, she turns in his arms and wraps her arms around his neck.

They pull apart and smile at each other. Let's Get It On begins a repeat, and Maria slaps a hand back over her mouth, laughing again, And Phil smirks and kisses her hand a few times. When he finishes, she tilts her head back in laughter and he hauls her wraps her legs around him, and he carries her over to the kitchen table while they laugh together.

He sets her down, but she keeps her legs around him and grins up at him while pulling on the hem of his tee shirt. He grins back, and she slowly pulls it up over his chest. It's almost to his pecks when the unmistakeable sound of a pager goes off in the distance.

Both of them freeze. Oh god. It's SHIELD. Maria drops her head on Phil's shoulders while he sighs. The mood is gone. They untangle from themselves and Phil rushes into his room to answer the page. Maria stays sitting on the table, frustrated.

If she could choose one thing that got on her nerves when it came to Phil, it would be SHIELD magically calling him on a mission right when she was about to get some.

A few minutes later, Phil comes bustling out of his room, dressed in his black suit, tie loose around his neck, and badge in hand. He kisses her on the forehead and promises to be back tomorrow, and rushes out the door.

Let's Get It On begins another loop. Maria groans and lays back on the kitchen table. Maybe she'll finish making breakfast and go back to her apartment and take a long bath. She turns on her side on the table and a fork pokes her in the ass.

A very long bath.


	20. Awful 2012

She scoots close to him and nudges him with her shoulder. "So? How was it?" she murmurs.

She watches him blink, and his face goes just a tiny bit slack with disappointment. "Awful."

"It couldn't have been that bad," she whispers back while carefully brushing her hand against his. The corners of his mouth twitch and she glares at a grunt across the room to hide her grin.

He leans a little closer to her. "I told him I watched him while he was sleeping."

She almost chokes on her own spit and leans down to look at a screen to hide the laughter she's trying to hold in.

"I said it went awful," he mutters. She looks back at him and smiles sympathetically.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "Maybe you can try again?"

He shakes his head. "Not for a while."

She rolls his eyes and leans on his arm for a moment. "But what about your trading cards? The ones we spent all night getting ready for someone to sign?"

He looks over at her, then looks down guiltily. "I don't want to scare him off, though. And he needs to focus on what we called him in for."

Maria looks around the room for something to glare at, then looks over at Phil. "Well, if you change your mind, I put them in your locker this morning."

She almost misses that smile flitter across his face, but she sees it and fights her knees going weak. She clearly hears him mutter, "Thank you, Honey," and stares at the monitor in front of her until she can get her emotions in check.

Phil does the same.


	21. Christmas 2012

It's Christmastime, which is Maria's favorite time of year. Darcy is home for break for a whole two months starting today. Her and Phil have three weeks off, and then only work three days a week from the New York base until Darcy's back in school.

Phil is at home, getting dinner going and setting up the living area for family movie night while Maria and Darcy run a few errands. They've picked up Phil's dry cleaning, got Darcy some new clothes for school, and now grabbing a few snacks for movie night. Darcy has a dry cleaning bag thrown over her shoulder with some of Phil's nicer suits, while the rest are casually hanging over the edge of the shopping cart Maria is pushing.

"Sweet! Gushers!" Darcy cheers when Maria drops them in the cart, but something else has Maria's attention. She can hear grumbling and someone talking on their cell phone and it sounds familiar. It's one aisle over, she's sure.

"No, Pep. I've got the eggnog. Have some faith in me. I can handle going to the store by myself."

It couldn't be. Maria slows down and listens closer, pretending to choose between which kind of fruit roll up to get for Darcy.

"Well, ok. I'm going to go get the eggnog. It's on the list... Whoa, calm down Pep. Ok, just eggnog. I'll put the other stuff back. ...I can handle this. ...No! You do not need to come get me! I am doing fine!"

Maria squeezes the boxes in her hands and throws them both in the cart. That's definitely Stark. But it's no problem. Maria can easily navigate out of the store without running into him. Getting Darcy out might be harder, but she's sure she can manage.

"Mom, are you okay? You've been staring at the display for paper towels for like five minutes?"

Maria blinks a few times and turns to Darcy, staring at her like he's lost her mind. "Sorry, it's just... I remembered we forgot to pick something up... And the store is going to close soon, so we'd better hurry."

"Oh, okay..." Darcy says, doubtful.

Maria pushes her cart forward and listens for footsteps, trying to pinpoint his direction and the best ways for avoiding him.

She and Darcy finish gathering the snacks, and she's sure she's out of the clear. She just has to turn down this one aisle and go to the check out and they're done.

Then she spots him. Right in front of the dairy aisle, staring at her. She freezes for a moment, trying to think of a plan. Maybe he doesn't recognize her. Maybe they still have time to sneak off. She's a high skilled agent, and while weapons, brute force, and yelling are her specialty, covert operations are something she's well versed in. Surely she can just push Darcy down the cookie aisle and he'll never see them and he definitely won't find out the one thing Nick Fury directly told her that Tony Stark should not find out about until Stark agrees to finish the upgrades to the helicarrier.

"Oh my god. Mom, is that Tony Stark?!" she hears Darcy whisper. She looks over and sees her daughter has whipped out her iPhone and is snapping pictures.

"Darcy! No! Shh!" Maria cries out, but it is too late. He's seen them, well her. Damn it. She tries to carefully back away and turn into another aisle, pretend she doesn't see him.

"Agent Hill?"

Nope, not her. Definitely not Agent Hill. Just some woman and her daughter shopping, no need to bother.

"Mom! Tony Stark is coming over here!"

Oh god. Okay, okay. There is no way any of this will negatively impact anything as long as she and Darcy don't reveal any information.

She whips her head to Darcy and lowers her voice. "I am begging you Darcy, do not say anything and walk away. My job is on the line."

"But I hate your job," she whines back.

"But you love food, and my job pays for your food."

"Uhg, fine. Whatever."

Darcy frowns and starts playing Where's My Water on her phone and grumbling as Maria pushes Darcy and the cart into another aisle.

Hopefully, Stark has given up. The two of them will make it out of the store with snack food and Phil's dry cleaning and Maria won't get an angry call from Fury while she's on vacation.

And then Tony Stark rounds the corner at the other end of the aisle.

"Agent Hill!"

Maria's hands clench on the bar of her car and crack the plastic. God. Damn. It. Darcy looks up from her game and grins, ready to jump up and down.

Stark bustles over and parks his cart so that the whole aisle is blocked. He grins and Maria can feel her blood boiling. Darcy is still excited. Maria knows about the Iron Man calendar under her bed. She knows.

"Agent Hill, in a super market. SHIELD send you out for a grocery run?"

"Stark."

Stark leans over and takes a good look at Darcy. "Did they send a trainee with you?"

Darcy opens her mouth to say something, but Maria slides right in front of her and glares at Stark, hoping he will just drop it and leave.

"Mom!" Darcy whines.

Maria can tell this catches Stark by surprise. Of course it would. There are about five people from work who know about her personal life, and she's married to one of them.

"Whoa. That's your daughter?" Stark asks. He then looks both Maria and Darcy up and down. "Wow..."

"She's nineteen," Maria growls.

Stark stares at her for a minute mouth slack, and Maria can feel her hands shaking. She hates this. She's already said too much. She's being so hostile. Fury is going to have her head.

"Well... Okay... So..." Stark mumbles. Good, now maybe he'll leave, and Fury will never hear about this and Stark will finish the upgrades and life can move forward.

Darcy pushes past Maria. "Mr. Stark! Can you sign my iPhone?!" She holds out her phone, covered in an Iron Man theme skin, and Maria tries not to slam her head into the nearest solid object.

Stark grins and turns the phone over in his hands. "This is a nice skin! Where'd you get it?"

"I made it," Darcy replies, beaming.

Stark holds it up for better lighting and looks closely. "You used the Mark VII armor too. Impressive." He digs around in his coat pocket and pulls out a gold metallic sharpie and carefully scribbles his name on the back and hands it over. "Here you go."

Darcy takes it back and is almost vibrating in joy. Then she turns to Maria. "I don't see why you couldn't have just asked him at work." Maria stares back at Darcy unamused.

The atmosphere returns to awkward and hostile, and Maria hopes it will make Stark leave, but then he notices Darcy hauling Phil's suits and he pulls it off her shoulder. "Here, I got it."

Panic floods Maria's system. She hopes he doesn't head the tags. Please don't read the tags. If he doesn't read the tags, she will call Jessica Glitter tonight and throw a reunion tour. She will wear the jean jacket to work if he doesn't read the tags.

He reads the tags.

"... Are these..? Phil's suits?" Stark asks, looking at Maria with a sad look on his face.

Well, looks like Canada gets to spend another year with Maria Sparkles.

"Yeah. Now that Dad's on vacation, we have time to get them all cleaned," Darcy replies.

Stark visibly freezes. Maria slams her face into her palms, and Darcy looks at both of them questioningly.

"Mom? What's going on?"

Maria looks over at her daughter and tries not to look like she's about to knock over the shelf next to her. "Princess, Stark didn't know about your dad surviving the incident."

"Oh."

"Yes."

"...You could have said something!"

Maria shakes her head and pats Darcy on the shoulder. "Go grab some ice cream, I'll meet you at the checkout."

"Mom."

"Darcy. Go."

Darcy looks at her mom, not budging and glaring, but then she sees that little line that forms on her forehead when she's stressed to the max and quickly leaves.

"Phil is alive," Stark starts.

"I can't confirm or deny that," Maria says defensively.

"Phil has been alive this whole time, and you... SHIELD didn't say anything? It's been almost six months," he says through gritted teeth.

"Whether or not you think a man who you barely know is alive is very low on the list of SHIELD's priorities, Stark," Maria growls back. She grabs the broken handle on her cart and tries to turn it around and leave.

Stark grabs the cart and stops her. "No. No, you tell me right now if he is alive or not, Hill."

Maria looks up at him, seriously wanting to just beat him up in the middle of a grocery store, but instead looks at the hand on her cart and squeezes his wrist. "I don't have time for this. Unlike you, I have a family waiting for me," she grunts out and she forcibly rips his hand off the cart and snatches the suits out of his other hand.

She turns her cart and around and briskly walks away and to the checkout, not caring one bit about the hurtful thing she just said. SHIELD is at a standstill because Stark won't finish the upgrades to the helicarrier. This is her job, and the only thing keeping the world, and Darcy safe, and he won't finish his stupid job.

And where does he get off acting like Phil, her husband and father of her child, is his priority. Like Phil's almost death hurt him so badly. She was there, she saw how he and Captain America acted. Yes, they were angry and sad to loose him. But Stark didn't know anything about Coulson other than he worked for SHIELD. How dare he act like he knew Phil. Like he cared.

She sees Darcy holding a giant tub of ice cream and waiting by a check out and heads over to her. She starts putting items on the conveyor belt and pushes the last five minutes out of her mind.

It's Christmastime, Darcy is home and here, and Phil is waiting for them.

She pays the cashier and turns to see Stark buying a single bottle of eggnog, frowning. They lock eyes for a moment, before she turns back around and picks up her bags wraps an arm around Darcy and ushers her out.


	22. Arrival 2012

After dropping off Dr. Banner, Natasha feels the need for some caffeine. Major jetlag would cause that. She lets Dr. Banner roam around for a little bit and heads off to the nearest break room.

She doesn't expect anyone to be inside, what with Fury putting everyone on high alert, but she spies Maria Hill's harsh bun at the work table. Quietly, Natasha grabs a paper cup and fills it with streaming coffee.

"Good morning, Natasha," Maria greets from across the room, not looking up from her papers.

"You look especially happy this morning," Natasha murmurs over the paper of her coffee cup.

Maria looks up from her stack of reports and bites her lip. "I may be a little happy."

Natasha leans forward and smirks. "Had a good night, then?" she asks.

Maria sets down her reports and cracks her knuckles. "Not good in the sense of what you would think, but good."

"Oh…?"

"Yes," Maria replies with a smirk. "While you were in India picking up Dr. Banner, someone got the order to escort Captain Rogers here."

Natasha almost drops her coffee. "No. Really?"

"Yep. Haven't seen him this excited since they pulled Rogers out of the ice."

Natasha grabs the seat across from Maria and tries to halfheartedly skims the first page of Maria's reports. "So he kept you up all night talking?"

Maria laughs and pulls her reports away from Natasha. "Actually, we broke out his vintage trading cards and got them ready to be signed."

"Wow."

"Yeah. He's been waiting a while for the opportunity to meet Rogers. It's probably going to be one of the happiest days of his life when he finally gets them signed."

An announcement blurbs on the speakers about another craft landing and Natasha empties her cup in one gulp. "That would be Rogers and Coulson landing now. Better go greet them."

"Have fun," Maria murmurs, going back to her reports.

"You're not coming?"

"In a minute, I've just got to..." Natasha takes a quick glance at the reports. They're bank statements. Her eyes dart across the pages, and she catches a few snippets, enough to put together the picture that Maria is trying to get things in order, just in case.

Natasha leaves as quietly as she entered and remembers why she should never have kids. It would hurt too much.


	23. Detention 1997

Darcy hates the detention center.

Every Thursday they run weird tests on her. First they ask her to hold her breath and count to thirty, which didn't seem too weird, but then they start asking her to do certain math problems from textbooks that were for much older children or to bend her thumbs strange ways as far as they would go, and it doesn't sit right with her. And at the end of the test, they take a blood sample, a small one, just a prick of the finger, but it hurts and she hates it.

Where are her parents? She hasn't seen then in more than a month, and she really misses them. On Tuesdays, they tell her that her parents called to check in on her, but she was too busy with something to answer the call. She doesn't believe it, though. Darcy knows her parents. They could barely leave her alone with a babysitter for an hour, there's no way they were willing to leave her in a detention facility for this long and not talk directly to her.

Darcy would be five soon, and she isn't falling for any of this.

So she begins asking about them more and more. She begins refusing to let them run tests and fighting when they try to take her blood sample. She doesn't participate in exercise or entertainment. She refuses to eat or drink anything. And on Wednesday, she bites one of the caretakers.

After her biting incident, they move Darcy to a smaller, darker room with a hard bed and thin sheet for a night. Darcy enjoys it, to their dismay, because there's none of the blinding light, and the walls may be bright clean white like her room, but she can't tell, and also because she sees less of the caretakers in their white jackets and more of men and women in black suits. It comforts her a little to see them.

She has dreams about bright flashes of light and screaming. She wants to dismiss it, rattle it off in the sharing session on Monday, but then she concentrates on it and starts to hear her parents' voices. She almost forgot what they sounded like, but now they're ringing clear in her head.

"Don't you dare touch my daughter! STOP IT! GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER! LET HER GO!"

"STOP THIS. WHO AUTHORIZED THIS? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS. LET GO OF THEM RIGHT NOW."

After a while, a heavy feeling settles in Darcy's stomach. It's obvious that she's not supposed to be here, and her parents didn't leave her here by their own choice. She can't remember everything from her dream, really just their voices, and herself crying, but it comforts her in knowing that they really didn't just give her up to these people. One day, she'll see them again.


	24. Reunion 1998

When she gets called into the briefing room midday, Maria thinks nothing of it. Perhaps it's a new mission for her? Maybe she won't be paired up with "I sleep with my rules and regulations book under my pillow"? She can only hope for so much.

But of course, as she enters the room, there's Coulson, sitting there blank faced and emotionless as always. Another mission with him is just what she needs, especially after last night when they accidentally met up in the showers last night. She had turned it on for just a minute to heat up, and he came barreling in to turn off the precious water while her back was turned, and there was just so much nakedness and awkwardness. When he looks up as she enters, she doesn't miss the slight pink tint that grows on his face.

Maria takes the seat next to him and turns forward to avoid him, and busies herself with cracking her knuckles. It's almost impossible to actually look him in the eye now, and it seems to be the same way for him too.

Just as the tension is at its thickest, the door opens, and in comes a younger man in a black suit, carrying files. He is unfamiliar to Maria, and when she turns to give Coulson a look, he slightly shrugs back. The man takes a seat across from him and removes his sunglasses and gives them a hard look. After a moment, he then leans back in his chair and sighs. Maria turns to Coulson again, and he shrugs just like last time.

The man leans forward and again and steeples his hands in front of him on the table. "Agent Coulson, Agent Hill. My name is Agent Jay, I work for a Top Secret Organization that you may or may not be aware of called The Men in Black."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Maria asks, rolling her eyes.

"Hill, be quiet," Coulson replies stiffly. Maria frowns back at him like a child who's been reprimanded and then crosses her arms over her chest and pays attention.

The man starts again. "One year ago, my former partner and mentor, Agent Kay, retired from MIB, and as with protocol, had his memories removed you might say. Along with his memories removed, MIB sometimes removes the memories of him from others as well." The man turned towards Coulson. "However, in your special case, you and your habitat are in no way to be disturbed, as sanctioned by the endangered species code."

"What the hell are you-"

"Maria, just be quiet for once!"

Maria turns toward Coulson, and stares him down, but he looks forward towards the mysterious and crazy Agent Jay and pays no mind to her. Maria rolls her eyes again and makes to get up in leave. She's got her hand on the doorknob when Agent Jay begins talking again.

"Agent Hill, this is very sensitive information for yours and Coulson's ears only. If you leave, I won't be able to continue." Maria begins to turn the knob, not caring at all about this ridiculous joke of a brief she has to sit through. She is so tired of people playing pranks on her and trying to get her and Coulson alone in a room together because it's hilarious or something. "Agent Hill, if you open that door, five year old Darcy Lewis is never going to see her parents again."

Maria freezes at this. That name sounds too eerily familiar. Especially since Darcy is the name of someone close to her from long ago, the nanny that stood up to her father and did her best to send Maria to somewhere safe. Maria remembers being fourteen years old and writing a silly paper about who her hero was, and she sat there and wrote, 'My nanny, Darcy,' and thought to herself 'If I ever have kids, I'm naming one of them Darcy, after her.'

This Agent guy had said something about memories being erased, and the fact that there's a child named Darcy involved, and when she had her physical, they had said her body was showing signs of a past pregnancy, so what if...

Maria turns and sits back down, sitting straight up and looking Agent Jay right in the eyes. "You have five minutes to explain everything."

Agent Jay sighs and begins again. "Anyways, when Agent Kay, retired, both of you were directly connected to him, and some agents believed you held sestina information and sought to remove it. Mistakes were made, resulting in both of you being here now, with no memory of the past six years of your lives and Darcy Lewis spending a year in MIB's detention center."

"Who is Darcy Lewis?" Maria hisses.

Agent Jay opens a folder and pulls out a pile of pictures. "See for yourself," he murmurs as he pushes the photos in-between her and Coulson.

The first one on the pile is of a little girl with curly brunette hair and a huge grin, watching a movie in her pajamas. Maria thinks nothing of it at first, until she notices in the right hand corner the reflection of the photographer. Coulson.

Coulson notices, then picks up the next photo and sees that it's him and the little girl, who looks to be three in the photo, sitting on a park bench waving.

The next photo is Maria, holding a toddler-sized version of the same girl and grinning ear to ear.

Maria turns to Coulson, blank faced and confused, and he frowns back.

The next few pictures show one of the and the little girl, and then a few more of just the girl, but then suddenly the pictures are of Coulson, the little girl, and Maria, taken all over New York, a some at the beach, and then the last one, Maria and the girl sitting on either side of an older man in front of a birthday cake that reads "Happy Birthday, Grandpa!"

Maria swallows and looks up at Agent Jay. "Are you trying to tell me that I have a daughter that I don't remember having?"

Agent Jay leans his head to the side. "I'm actually trying to tell you is that you two are in love and married and you have a daughter, but you were pretty close."

Maria gapes at Agent Jay, but then Coulson steps in. "So somehow MIB just decided to break up an entire family because my father retired?" Coulson's face has turned red, and his hands are shaking, and Maria swears this is the most emotion she's ever seen come out of this man.

"If I can be honest with you, Phil, can I call you that? Phil, honestly, external forces wanted to get ahold of your daughter, due to her unconventional heritage, and saw your father retiring as the perfect chance to kidnap her. However, due to strict MIB procedures, your daughter never left MIB's detention facility and remained out of harm this whole year."

This answer seems to just piss off Coulson more, and Maria is honestly unsure why. The child was safe, nothing really happened to her. But there's probably more to the story than what Agent Jay is telling if Coulson is reacting this way.

"So what now?" Maria asks. "Are you just going to hand us this kid who we don't know and be done?"

"Actually, if you two are willing, we'll go to MIB headquarters, reinstate your memories, and reunite you both with your daughter." Agent Jay looks to both of them. "I'll let you both think it over while I go get the car ready." With that, Agent Jay leaves. Maria doesn't question why he has a car on a helicarrier. Everything seems kind of normal compared to what was just dropped on her.

She and Coulson sit in silence for a few minutes before Coulson speaks up. "Are you happy with your life right now?" he asks quietly. Maria doesn't know how to answer and instead just looks down at her hands. She's at a great place career-wise. That's all that's ever seemed to matter. That's happiness, right?

"Are you happy? You have your girlfriend, right? Aren't you both happy?" Maria asks back instead.

Coulson fidgets, and then looks Maria in the eyes. "Honestly, not really. I've always wanted to settle down and have a family, and I know Chrissy doesn't want that. And now they're telling me I already have a family. I just... I know it's got to be better than my life right now."

Maria mulls this over. "How did I even mange to have a kid in this kind of work?" Maria mutters. She grabs a picture of the little girl and notices that they have the same lips and smile, but she has more of Coulson's face, if Coulson smiled more. "A cute kid at that," she adds before dropping the picture and leaning back in her chair. "Do you think we were happy? I mean, we were married for six years. We had a kid. We had to be happy, right?"

Coulson looks back at her for a moment and then stands up. "Let's go find out."

Coulson goes first into the 'Unnueralizer pod', leaving Maria alone in the hallway. He doesn't come back out to see her before they take her in next, and she realizes he must have used to other door in the room instead of walking past her. Maybe they weren't happy after all. Maybe there was a good reason they forgot about their lives. Self doubts creeps up on her and tries to drown her as they strap her in, and all Maria can do is hope that on the other side of the door there is someone happy to see her, and she didn't just make the biggest mistake of her life.

She comes to later as she's being unstrapped and her head is buzzing. The last five minutes are foggy for her, and then she realizes that she's been out for almost an hour. Nothing is making sense, and people are asking her questions and trying to lead her to this door, and she has no idea what's going on. Her stomach is turning and she feels like her insides are trying to escape, but they lead her to that door and open it, and when she goes inside, they close it behind her. She's too foggy to even turn around to protest.

In front of her, she sees a man and girl playing with dolls and she just can't open her mouth or say anything. She just wants to sit down and go to sleep. Her head is swimming, but then the little girl turns towards her, and she yells, "Mommy!" and starts running towards her, and Maria falls to her knees and catches the little girl in her arms. As soon as she's holding the five year old, Maria begins crying and she doesn't quite understand why and then Darcy starts crying too, and Maria cries harder because god she missed Darcy so much.

"It's okay, Darcy. Mommy's here," Maria chokes out. She looks up and sees Phil's watery smile and starts rocking back and forth holding Darcy. He gets up and joins them on the floor and puts a hand on Maria's shoulder. She can tell he's unsure. They've been at each other's throats for a year, why wouldn't he be unsure? So Maria leans into him and finds that spot on his shoulder she loves so much, and he pulls his two girls closer to him and kisses the tops of the heads.

This is the happiest any of them have been in a year.


	25. You Keep Me Young 2012

It's early in the morning, sun just peaking over the horizon, weaving through the buildings and pouring in-between their shades. He's up first, brushing his teeth and washing his face before setting off to start the coffee. Maria is still out cold and will surely stay that way for a few more minutes, which gives Phil plenty of time to just look at himself in the mirror.

He's gotten older for sure. It's in how his shoulders hunch over and how his neck favors one side of the other, or the lines in his face around his mouth and eyes. And his hair. He's a little self-conscious about his hair but too proud to do anything about it.

He flexes a bicep and watches how puny the muscles are now. Years ago, he was trim, and fit, and muscular, completing missions with his strength and smarts. He still does, but now there are a few sugary snacks here and there, some lazy days where he doesn't leave the bed until noon, and so many more things to worry about.

At least he doesn't have a beer gut yet. He could never forgive himself if he did.

It just bothers him that despite his skill and knowledge and strength and drive, he looks the odd man out. In his younger days, he's sure he could have given many of them a run for their money, but now, it was unlikely.

He stands up straight, shoulders back, and puffs out his chest and tries not to sigh at the sight of himself. He doesn't have beefy pecks or python sized guns, he never really did, and they were never requirements for his job. His years of training in communications, fighting, shooting, and strategy more than make up for abs you could eat waffles off of, but still…

"Is this a private show or do I get an invitation?"

He looks away from the mirror and finally notices Maria sitting on the counter just to the right of him. Her hair and clothes are still rumpled from sleep and her voice is thick and rough. He can't help but notice his old pajama shirt slipping off one of her shoulders and her knee high socks pushed down to mid calf. Underneath her grogginess, he can clearly see that sly smile she gives when she's hunting.

"I'm just doing my morning routine."

"A morning routine means washing your face, shaving, and brushing your teeth. But you were flexing many of my favorite muscles."

He grins and leans over to peck her, but she grabs his face and sloppily kisses him with promise. When she finally breaks it off, she leans forward and stares into his eyes, then pinches his ass and runs back into the bedroom laughing. He quickly follows her and traps her underneath the covers,

Later in the day, sun rising high in the sky, he turns to her. "Do you ever feel old?"

"Our daughter is in college. Of course I feel old," she replies. Apparently he's not the only one.

Before he can think anything else, Maria climbs on top of him and grins down at him. "But you keep me young."


End file.
